vmware horizon air hybrid-mode administration

74
VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode 1.1 This document supports the version of each product listed and supports all subsequent versions until the document is replaced by a new edition. To check for more recent editions of this document, see http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs. EN-002216-00

Upload: tranbao

Post on 10-Feb-2017

227 views

Category:

Documents


1 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-ModeAdministration

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode 1.1

This document supports the version of each product listed andsupports all subsequent versions until the document isreplaced by a new edition. To check for more recent editions ofthis document, see http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs.

EN-002216-00

Page 2: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

2 VMware, Inc.

You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on the VMware Web site at:

http://www.vmware.com/support/

The VMware Web site also provides the latest product updates.

If you have comments about this documentation, submit your feedback to:

[email protected]

Copyright © 2016 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. Copyright and trademark information.

VMware, Inc.3401 Hillview Ave.Palo Alto, CA 94304www.vmware.com

Page 3: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

Contents

About Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration 5Introduction to Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode 5Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Architecture 6Suggested Workflow 7Join or Leave the Customer Experience Improvement Program 7Contacting VMware Support 8

1 Configure your Horizon Air Nodes 9

Log in to an Administration Console 11

2 Register Active Directory 13

3 Getting Started Page 15

4 General Setup 17

About File Shares 17Create a File Share 18Upload Certificates 18Add or Change Roles and Permissions for Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode 19

5 Creating a Desktop Image 21

Prerequisites for Building a Master Virtual Machine 21Configure the Master Virtual Machine 22Optimize Guest OS Performance 23Optimize Windows for Instant Clone Virtual Machines 24Install and Configure VMware Agents 25

6 Export the Master Virtual Machine 29

7 Desktop Assignment 31

Create an Image in the Administration Console 32Types of Desktop Assignments 34Create a Dedicated or Floating Desktop Assignment 35

8 App Assignment 37

Managing Applications for Deployment with AppCapture 37Copy AppStacks to File Shares 46Import AppStacks 47Create an Application Assignment 47Working with Writable Volumes 48Writable Volumes FAQ 49

VMware, Inc. 3

Page 4: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

9 Customizing the User Environment 51

Create UEM File and Profile Shares 51Configure the UEM Group Policy 52Create a File Share for Customizations 52Create or Edit a Customization 53Assign a Customization 53

10 About Menu Selections 57

The Monitor Icon 57Assign Icon 59Inventory Icon 60The Settings Icon 61

11 Managing Horizon Air Nodes 67

Monitor Horizon Air Node Health 67Performing Maintenance on Horizon Air Node 68Upgrading Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode 68

12 Access Desktops and Applications 71

Log In to the Desktop 71

Index 73

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

4 VMware, Inc.

Page 5: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

About Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration explains how to create, deploy, and administer virtual desktops andapplications from the Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration Console. It describes how to use theproduct after you complete all of the tasks outlined in the Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Installation andConfiguration Guide.

Intended AudienceThis document is intended for experienced IT system administrators who are familiar with virtual machinetechnology and datacenter operations.

VMware Information Experience GlossaryVMware Information Experience provides a glossary of terms that might be unfamiliar to you. Fordefinitions of terms as they are used in VMware technical documentation, go to http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs.

Introduction to Horizon Air Hybrid-ModeWith Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode, end users can securely access their desktops and apps from any device.After you deploy the Horizon Air Node, you can use the Administration Console to configure desktop andapplication assignments.

Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode consists of a cloud service, Horizon Cloud Services, which pairs with an on-premises component, Horizon Air Node.

Horizon Cloud Services A control plane hosted in the cloud by VMware for central orchestration andmanagement of virtual desktops, applications, and user profiles on an on-premises infrastructure.

Horizon Air Node Optimized hardware (Virtual SAN Ready Nodes) connected to the cloudcontrol plane by way of integrated Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode connectorsoftware.

The Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode service provides you with access to the Horizon Cloud Manager, plus thesoftware necessary to perform the following tasks.

n Pair the on-premises hardware with the cloud control plane.

n Deliver virtual desktops and manage applications.

VMware, Inc. 5

Page 6: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode ArchitectureHorizon Air Hybrid-Mode consists of a cloud service and on premise equipment.

ArchitectureHorizon Cloud Services is a control plane that VMware hosts in the cloud. It enables the centralorchestration and management of virtual desktops, applications, and user profiles on an on-premisesinfrastructure.

Cloud Control Plane

Horizon Air NodeOn-Premises Virtual Desktops & Apps

Horizon Cloud Manager UI

Horizon Cloud Services

Admin

External UsersCloud Pairing & Connectivity

VirtualDesktops

& Apps

Internal Users

Authentication in DMZ

VMware is responsible for hosting the service and providing feature updates and enhancements for asoftware-as-a-service experience.

The cloud control plane also hosts a common management UI called Horizon Cloud Manager. TheHorizon Cloud Manager is accessible from all major browsers and provides IT administrators a singlelocation for managing desktop images, applications, user data, profiles, and assignments. TheHorizon Cloud Manager is accessible from anywhere at any time, providing maximum flexibility.

Horizon Air NodeHorizon Air Node uses a field-installable bootstrap appliance called Horizon Air Link to pair withHorizon Cloud Services at installation time. Horizon Air Link orchestrates the initial setup and pairing withthe cloud control plane for ongoing management and communication. The Cloud Connector providesconnectivity to the cloud without requiring a dedicated site-to-site VPN.

Horizon Air Link(Bootstrap Appliance)

Cloud Connector

Instant CloneProvisioning

App VolumesManager

Horizon Air Platform

Converged & Hyper-Converged Infrastructurewith vSphere, Virtual SAN

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

6 VMware, Inc.

Page 7: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

After the Horizon Air Link completes the build, seven appliances are running on the VSAN Ready Node.

n Horizon Air Link (boot appliance)

n Smartnode Manager 1 + 2

n Resource Manager 1 + 2

n Tenant Appliance 1 + 2

The Horizon Air Platform, App Volumes, the Cloud Connector, and the Instant Clone engine are installed inthese appliances.

You can use Access Point appliances to access end user desktops externally to the corporate network.

End users can use Windows, OS X, Chrome, Linux, iOS, or Android Horizon Clients, or supported HorizonThin Clients to access their desktops.

Suggested WorkflowYou must install Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode on a hyper-converged infrastructure before you start to set upand deploy your desktops.

1 Install and configure the Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode on a hyper-converged infrastructure as described inHorizon Air Hybrid-Mode Installation and Configuration.

2 Pair the node with the cloud and perform basic configuration. See Chapter 1, “Configure your HorizonAir Nodes,” on page 9.

3 Perform a domain join and domain bind as described in Chapter 2, “Register Active Directory,” onpage 13.

4 Upload SSL certificates. See “Upload Certificates,” on page 18 for details.

5 Create a desktop image as described in Chapter 5, “Creating a Desktop Image,” on page 21.

6 Capture App Stacks as described in “Managing Applications for Deployment with AppCapture,” onpage 37.

7 Create a desktop service and assignments. See Chapter 7, “Desktop Assignment,” on page 31.

8 Create an application service and assignments as described in Chapter 8, “App Assignment,” onpage 37.

9 Start desktops and applications.

Join or Leave the Customer Experience Improvement ProgramThe VMware Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) provides information that VMware usesto improve its products and services, to fix problems, and to advise you on how best to deploy and useVMware products.

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode participates in the VMware CEIP. Information about the data collectedthrough CEIP and how VMware uses it are in the Trust & Assurance Center at http://www.vmware.com/trustvmware/ceip.html.

The CEIP appears the first time you start Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode after completing the domain join. Youmust then make a selection. You can change your selection at any time after that.

Procedure

1 Start the Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration Console.

2 Select Help > CEIP.

About Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

VMware, Inc. 7

Page 8: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

3 Move the slider next to Join Customer Experience Improvement Program to No to leave CEIP or Yes tojoin.

The default is Yes.

4 Click Save.

Contacting VMware SupportContact VMware Support when you need help with Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode.

n You can submit a Support Request to VMware Support online using your My VMware® account or byphone.

n KB 2144012 Customer Support Guidelines provides details for getting support depending on the issueencountered.

n If you are in the Administrator Console, click the Help icon in the upper right corner of the screen andselect Support.

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

8 VMware, Inc.

Page 9: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

Configure your Horizon Air Nodes 1You must perform this onboarding procedure for each Horizon Air Node that you want to pair withHorizon Cloud Services. You can then manage each node, one at a time, by logging in to the AdministrationConsole for the respective node.

You configure Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode nodes from a Web browser using My VMware credentials.

Managing multiple Horizon Air Nodes is advantageous in the following situations.

n If you operate in multiple geographical locations, having one node physically located in each officeenhances the user experience, by lowering the latency, among other benefits.

n You can use a second Horizon Air Node as a test environment, where you can test images andapplications outside of the production environment.

n If you scale beyond the current limits of the hardware, you can add nodes to additional hardware tomeet the demand.

The following instructions describe how to configure one or more Horizon Air Nodes.

Prerequisites

n Verify that a Virtual SAN Ready Node cluster is set up for each Horizon Air Node you plan to deploy.

n Deploy an instance of Horizon Air Link for each Horizon Air Node you plan to deploy. The URL to theHorizon Air Link Appliance is https://<Horizon Air Link appliance IP>:8443. If you do not knowthe IP address of the Horizon Air Link appliance, start the remote console session for the Horizon AirLink appliance from vCenter. The IP address appears on the blue screen.

n Start the remote console for the node you plan to deploy. See the Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Installationand Configuration Guide.

During node configuration, the bottom of the screen displays a link to Support Bundle. If something occursthat requires you to send support logs to VMware for review, click the link. A zip file containing the logs isdownloaded to your browser. Contact VMware Support as described in KB 2144012.

Procedure

1 Navigate to https://<Horizon Air Link appliance IP>:8443.

2 At the Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Setup Screen, log in using the My VMware credentials that you usedto register the Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode service.

3 Click Login.

VMware, Inc. 9

Page 10: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

4 If prompted either to review the End User License Agreement or to respond to offline nodes, take theappropriate action.

Option Description

Offline Nodes The offline-node dialog box appears at this point in the procedure whenyou attempt to onboard a node, but the system detects that one or moreexisting nodes are in an offline state, giving you the opportunity to deleteoffline nodes. If you are absolutely certain that you want to delete anoffline node, click Yes to delete it. Then click the + button to continue theconfiguration of the node you started.

End User License Agreement The license agreement appears when you configure the first Horizon AirNode. To continue with the procedure, select the check box to accept theterms and conditions of the license agreement and click Next. Configuringsubsequent nodes, does not cause the license agreement to appear.

5 At the vSphere Configuration page, enter vCenter credentials as requested and click Next.

Provide the user name in the format of [email protected].

6 If a certificate was loaded into vCenter that cannot be automatically validated, review and verify thecertificate details in the vCenter Server Certificate section and click Next.

7 Enter the hardware description and network information.

Option Action

Hardware Description Enter hardware and datacenter information. For example, the name ofsmartnode, location, and optional description. You can also create a newdatacenter location, or edit an existing one from here.

Backbone Network Select a backbone network for this configuration from the drop-downmenu.

Management Network Select a network from the drop-down menu. Then specify an IP addressfor the gateway and a subnet mask. Then assign at least 10 contiguous IPaddresses in the IP Range Min / IP Range Max fields.

Desktop Network Enter network information, including an assigned range of 3 contiguous IPaddresses in the same subnet as the gateway.The subnet must include the desktop IP addresses for end users' desktops,which get IP addresses from DHCP.The subnet must be large enough to contain all end user desktops andDHCP must be configured to serve IP addresses to those desktops.

Additional Information Enter IP addresses for NTP and DNS servers.

8 Click Next.

The system begins downloading binaries from the cloud. The download time varies based on locationand network conditions. Typically, the download completes in less than 45 minutes. You can close thebrowser at this time.

After the download process finishes, the system starts building the virtual machines, which takesapproximately 30-45 minutes. After the virtual machines are built, a check is done to confirm that aconnection exists to the Horizon Cloud Service.

9 If the confirmation page displays for more than a few seconds, click More Information to determinewhich IP addresses need outbound access.

10 To receive an email when the process finishes, enter your email address and click Submit.

11 (Optional) If you close the browser and want to reconnect to check the progress, repeat Step 1 andreauthenticate using your My VMware credentials.

A congratulations screen displays when the node has been successfully deployed.

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

10 VMware, Inc.

Page 11: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

What to do next

Log in to the Administration Console.

Log in to an Administration ConsoleThe process of logging in to an Administration Console varies depending on whether you configuredmultiple Horizon Air Nodes and if you completed the Active Directory domain join procedure.

If you join more than one Horizon Air Node to the environment, when you log in, choose which node tomanage. To manage a different node, log out, and log in again selecting the new node to manage.

Procedure

1 Navigate to https://cloud.horizon.vmware.com.

2 Log in with your My VMware credentials.

3 Perform the remaining log-in requirements.

Depending on the number of Horizon Air Nodes joined to your account, after you provide your MyVMware credentials, you might encounter an additional screen.

If Then

A single Horizon Air Node is joined to your account.The system does not present a node-selector screen.

No action for you to perform.

Multiple Horizon Air Nodes are joined to your account.The system presents a node-selector screen.When you hover over the icons, a summary of eachnode's status, such as downloading, building, readinessstate, is presented along with its connection status.

Select the Horizon Air Node you want to log in to.

The Administration Console for the selected Horizon Air Node appears.

What to do next

If applicable, register the Active Directory and complete the domain join. See Chapter 2, “Register ActiveDirectory,” on page 13. You must complete the entire Active Directory registration process before you canwork with any other services.

Chapter 1 Configure your Horizon Air Nodes

VMware, Inc. 11

Page 12: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

12 VMware, Inc.

Page 13: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

Register Active Directory 2You must complete Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode configuration by registering Active Directory, completing thedomain join, and adding the Super Administrator.

Note You must complete the entire Active Directory registration process before you can work with anyother services. All services are locked until you complete these tasks.

The Active Directory infrastructure must be synchronized to an accurate time source. If it is not, the domainjoin fails and you must contact VMware Support for assistance.

Procedure

1 From the Getting Started page, select General Setup.

2 Under Active Directory, click Edit.

Note If this is the first time you are configuring Active Directory, the button is labeled Configure.

3 In Register Active Directory dialog box, provide the requested registration information.

Option Description

NETBIOS Name Active Directory domain name

DNS Domain Name Fully qualified Active Directory domain name

Protocol LDAP or LDAPS, depending on your Active Directory setup

Bind Username Domain administrator

Bind Password Domain administrator password

Port The defaults for this field are: LDAP -> 389 and LDAPS -> 636. You shouldnot need to modify this field unless you are using a non-standard port.

Domain Controller IP (Optional) Specify a single preferred domain controller IP address if youwant AD traffic to use a specific domain controller.

Context This option is autopopulated based on the DNS Domain Nameinformation provided earlier.

4 Click Domain Bind.

5 Provide the domain join information.

Option Description

Join Username Domain administrator

Join Password Domain administrator password

VMware, Inc. 13

Page 14: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

Option Description

Primary DNS Server IP IP address of primary DNS Server

Secondary DNS Server IP (Optional) IP of secondary DNS Server

6 Click Save.

7 In the Add Super Administrator dialog box, use the Active Directory search function to select the ADadministrator group to administer Horizon Air.

8 Click Save.

9 If the domain bind or domain join process fail, you must restart the registration process.

a Restart the browser.

b Log in first using your My VMware account.

c Log in to the Active Directory account using the domain service (bind) account login andpassword.

d Continue with the domain join process.

10 If you click Cancel before you complete the registration, you can click Edit at any time from the GettingStarted page to continue with registration.

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

14 VMware, Inc.

Page 15: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

Getting Started Page 3When you install Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode, you must perform certain tasks to configure the service beforeyou can run it.

After you set up and install the Horizon Air Node and log in to the Horizon Air Hybrid-ModeAdministration Console for the first time, register the Active Directory as described in Chapter 2, “RegisterActive Directory,” on page 13. When you finish registering, you can start working in the AdministratorConsole.

The Getting Started page provides a high-level overview of the work that you have done, and what you stillneed to do. You can access this page at any time by clicking the Getting Started icon in the top right corner ofthe page. The Getting Started icon is an arrow that resembles a play button.

Note Review the steps in “Suggested Workflow,” on page 7 to ensure that you completed all tasksrequired to run Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode. You cannot perform certain tasks from the Getting Started page,for example, uploading certificates.

Table 3‑1. Getting Started Page Selections

Option Description

Infrastructure Displays details for the Horizon Air Node that you set upand installed.

General Setup Provides details and links to where you can edit ActiveDirectory, and Roles and Permissions settings. See Chapter 4, “General Setup,” on page 17.

Desktop Assignment Provides links to pages where you can convert an image toa desktop, and create a new desktop assignment. See Chapter 7, “Desktop Assignment,” on page 31.

App Assignment Provides links to where you can create new applicationassignments. See Chapter 8, “App Assignment,” onpage 37.

Customization Provides links to where you can customize a ShareLocation (File Share) and create a new customizationassignment. See Chapter 9, “Customizing the UserEnvironment,” on page 51.

At the bottom of the page, use the slider to indicate if you want the Getting Started page to appear atstartup.

VMware, Inc. 15

Page 16: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

16 VMware, Inc.

Page 17: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

General Setup 4Use the General Setup section to configure or edit Active Directory settings and define roles andpermissions.

The General Setup page provides access to the Active Directory and Roles and Permissions functions.

Selection Description

Active Directory Register an active directory and add domain bind anddomain join information. Domain registration is requiredin order to add Admin users to Roles and Permissions orassign Services to users. You must register your ActiveDirectory and complete the domain join before you can doanything else. See Chapter 2, “Register Active Directory,”on page 13 for details.

Roles and Permissions Create roles and assign permissions to users who will bemanaging the environment. See “Add or Change Roles andPermissions for Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode,” on page 19.

This chapter includes the following topics:

n “About File Shares,” on page 17

n “Create a File Share,” on page 18

n “Upload Certificates,” on page 18

n “Add or Change Roles and Permissions for Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode,” on page 19

About File SharesUse file shares to import AppStacks and customization information.

File shares take one of the following forms:

n Application file shares, which are used to import AppStacks. AppStacks are created using AppCapture.See “Using AppCapture,” on page 38. AppStacks that are already present in the file share are importedwhen the file share is added. To import AppStacks after the file share is added, see “Import AppStacks,”on page 47.

n Customizations file shares, which contain the configuration files for a customized user experience, forexample, mounting a network drive. See Chapter 9, “Customizing the User Environment,” on page 51.

File shares can be in the same domain as the Active Directory that is added to Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode.They can also be part of a CIFS share. Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode must have read permissions on your fileshares. You cannot remove a file share after it is created. If you entered the wrong file path, edit the file sharefrom the administration console and import it again.

VMware, Inc. 17

Page 18: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

Create a File ShareYou use file shares to import desktop images and AppStacks and to configure Customizations.

The type of file share you create determines what it will contain, AppStacks and images, or Customizations.See “Copy AppStacks to File Shares,” on page 46 and Chapter 9, “Customizing the User Environment,” onpage 51.

Note After you create a file share, you cannot remove it. If you entered the wrong file path, just edit the fileshare from the Administrator console and import it again.

Procedure

1 Select Settings > Locations and click File Share.

2 Click New.

3 Provide the required information in the New File Share dialog box.

Option Description

Name Name of the file share.

Username Admin user for the file share.

Password Admin password for the file share.

Type Type of file share. Select Applications/Images, or Customizations (beta).

Source Path Path of the host system from which to retrieve information.

Destination vCenters Applications Type only: The vCenter for Apps on this File Share to becopied to.

4 Click Save.

Upload CertificatesUpload SSL certificates to ensure that end users have a trusted connection to their environment.

Note During this procedure, the environment is temporarily unavailable and you cannot performadministrator operations. Upload the certificates after confirming that no users are on the system and notasks, such as importing AppStacks, publishing images, provisioning desktops, assigning desktops, and soon, are running.

You must upload the CA.crt and SSL.crt files, and the .key private key.

The CA certificate and the SSL certificate must be in PEM format, which is a BASE64-encoded DERrepresentation of an X.509 certificate. They both have a .crt extension, and look like this:

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----

MIIFejCCA2KgAwIBAgIDAIi/MA0GCSqG

...............

The private key must not have a password or passphrase associated with it. The .key file looks like this:

-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY -----

MIIEpQIBAAKCAQEAoJmURboiFut+R34CNFibb9fjtI+cpDarUzqe8oGKFzEE/jmj

......................

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

18 VMware, Inc.

Page 19: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

Procedure

1 Select Settings > General Settings.

2 Click Upload Certificate.

3 For each of the certificate files listed in the Upload Certificate dialog box, click Select and navigate tothe appropriate file.

4 When all of the certificate files are selected, click Save.

The console will be unresponsive for 5 to10 minutes for all administrators while the certificates areapplied.

5 When the system is responsive again, refresh the browser page and use your credentials toreauthenticate.

6 Verify that the certificates are valid on the General Settings page.

Add or Change Roles and Permissions for Horizon Air Hybrid-ModeRole-based access lets you control who has access to the management console.

Note To externally access this management console, see Deploying and Configuring Access Point , availablefrom the Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Documentation Center.

Procedure

1 On the Getting Started page, select General Setup.

2 In Roles & Permissions, click Edit.

3 Add another group or change the selected group.

4 Click Save.

Chapter 4 General Setup

VMware, Inc. 19

Page 20: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

20 VMware, Inc.

Page 21: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

Creating a Desktop Image 5You must create and configure an image before you can start assigning desktops.

Creating an image is a two-step process.

n First, create and configure a master virtual machine. See “Configure the Master Virtual Machine,” onpage 22.

n Then, import and convert the master virtual machine to a new image in the Administration Console.See “Create an Image in the Administration Console,” on page 32. This image is used as the OS onyour virtual desktops.

Once you have an image, you can start creating desktop assignments. See “Create a Dedicated or FloatingDesktop Assignment,” on page 35.

This chapter includes the following topics:

n “Prerequisites for Building a Master Virtual Machine,” on page 21

n “Configure the Master Virtual Machine,” on page 22

n “Optimize Guest OS Performance,” on page 23

n “Optimize Windows for Instant Clone Virtual Machines,” on page 24

n “Install and Configure VMware Agents,” on page 25

Prerequisites for Building a Master Virtual MachineYou must complete several tasks before you can build the master virtual machine.

Take a snapshot after each task so that you can revert to a known state if a problem occurs.

Complete the following tasks before you build the master virtual machine.

n Create a virtual machine.

n Download the DaaS SSL bootstrap.

n Determine the tenant appliance IP addresses.

Download the DaaS SSL BootstrapThe bootstrap process allows the guest virtual machine and the Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode appliance to pairwith each other securely.

Procedure

1 From the Getting Started page, select Desktop Assignment > Create Image and click Go.

VMware, Inc. 21

Page 22: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

2 On the Images page, select Download Bootstrap from the drop-down menu.

3 Enter and re-enter a password of 8-20 ASCII characters containing at least one each of the following:lowercase letter, uppercase letter, number, and symbol (!@#$%^&*). Do not use non-ASCII characters inthe password. Make a note of this password for future use.

4 Save the file in a safe location for later use.

Determine Tenant Appliance IP AddressesThe tenant appliance IP addresses are used for DaaS Agent and Horizon Client configuration and forbuilding a master VM for the desktop image.

Procedure

1 In the Administration Console, select Settings > Infrastructure.

2 Create a DNS record for the tenant appliance floating IP, for example, myDesktops.myCorp.com.

This address becomes the server address that end users use when they use Horizon View Client toaccess their desktops.

Create a Virtual MachineYou must create a virtual machine before you can build a master virtual machine for the desktop image.

Use a single socket, single core master virtual machine when publishing an image. If a master virtualmachine with multiple sockets and cores is used in conjunction with Standard Desktop Model, which has asingle socket and core, the master virtual machine must be reconfigured to reduce the number of socketsand cores to one. This reduction might introduce instability on running virtual machines.

Procedure

u Use VMware vCenter, VMware Fusion Pro, or VMware Workstation Pro to create a virtual machine andinstall the Windows guest operating system on it.

Build master virtual machines with a single virtual disk.

Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode supports Windows 7 or Windows 10 (x86 or x64). Use the latest supportedhardware version for vSphere 6.x.

Configure the Master Virtual MachineYou must perform several additional tasks to complete the master virtual machine configuration.

For more information about the KMS Client Setup Keys, see https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/jj612867.aspx.

Prerequisites

Complete all of the tasks outlined in “Prerequisites for Building a Master Virtual Machine,” on page 21.

Procedure

1 Enable the administrator account.

a Open an elevated command prompt.

b Enter net user administrator /active:yes.

c Select Control Panel > User Accounts and set the administrator password.

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

22 VMware, Inc.

Page 23: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

2 Install VMware Tools.

a In VMware Workstation, select VM > Guest, then select Install/Upgrade VMware Tools .

b Click OK.

c Open an elevated command prompt.

d Change directory to the CDROM drive.

e When the VMware Tools installation finishes, restart the virtual machine for the changes to takeeffect.

3 In the Control Panel, configure the network settings.

Setting Value(s)

Network Name of network

DNS Servers IP addresses of DNS servers

IPv6 Disable (deselect checkbox)

4 In the virtual machine settings, set the adapter type to VMXNET 3.

5 For Windows 7 SP1 Guest OS, install the network adapter hotfix for VMXNET 3 from https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2550978.

6 Install Windows Updates as required.

7 Set up KMS.

a Open an elevated command prompt and enter slmgr /ipk 25-digit_license_key to set up theClient Setup Key.

b Enter slmgr /skms kms_server_IP_or_host_name:port to specify the KMS server.

Note Do not activate the master virtual machine. The VMware Horizon Instant Clone Agentactivates the clones during customization.

c Enter slmgr /dlv to verify setup and KMS server details.

What to do next

“Optimize Guest OS Performance,” on page 23 and “Optimize Windows for Instant Clone VirtualMachines,” on page 24, then install and configure the agents.

Optimize Guest OS PerformanceYou can optimize guest operating system performance to optimize performance for remote desktopdeployment.

Procedure

1 Disable, delete, remove, or turn off items to optimize performance.

Option Action

Unused ports, such as COM1,COM2, and LPT

Disable.

Unnecessary services Disable.

Indexing Service component Disable. Indexing improves searches by cataloging files. Do not disable thisfeature for users who search often.

System Restore points Remove or minimize.

Chapter 5 Creating a Desktop Image

VMware, Inc. 23

Page 24: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

Option Action

Uninstall folders on C:\Windows,such as $NtUninstallKB893756$

Delete.

All event logs Delete.

Setting that tracks the last time afile was accessed

Run the fsutil command to disable this setting. For example: fsutilbehavior set disablelastaccess 1.

regedit.exe command Run the regedit.exe command to start the Registry Editor and changethe TimeOutValue REG_DWORD inHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\Disk to0x000000be(190).

Disk Cleanup Run to remove temporary and system files, empty Recycle Bin.

Disk Defragmenter Run to rearrange fragmented data.

System protection on the C drive Turn off.

Automatic computer maintenance Turn off.

Tablet PC Components Uninstall, unless you need this feature.

2 Adjust display properties.

a Choose a basic theme.

b Set the background to a solid color.

c Set the screen saver to None.

d Verify that hardware acceleration is enabled.

3 Select a high-performance power option and do not specify a sleep timer.

4 Set the sound scheme to No Sounds.

5 Set visual effects to Adjust for best performance.

6 Open Windows Media Player and use the default settings.

7 Turn off the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program and disable related tasks from theScheduler.

These steps apply to Windows 7. The steps might vary for different Windows operating systems.

a In the Windows 7 guest operating system control panel, select Action Center > Change ActionCenter settings.

b Click Customer Experience Improvement Program settings, select No, I don't want to participatein this program, and click Save changes.

c In the Task Scheduler (Local) pane of the Task Scheduler dialog box, select Task Scheduler >Library > Microsoft, expand the Windows nodes, and open the Applications Experience folder.

d Disable the AIT Agent, ProgramDataUpdater, and if available, Microsoft Compatibility Appraisertasks.

e Open the Autochk folder and disable the Proxy task.

8 Shut down the guest operating system, power off the virtual machine, and power it back on.

Optimize Windows for Instant Clone Virtual MachinesYou can disable certain Windows 7 services and tasks to reduce the growth of instant clone virtualmachines.

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

24 VMware, Inc.

Page 25: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

Instant clone technology uses vSphere vmFork technology to quiesce a running base image, or parent virtualmachine, and hot-clone it to create a pool of up to 1,000 instant clones. Instant clones share the virtual disksand memory of the parent VM at the time of creation . Each instant clone acts like an independent desktop,with a unique host name and IP address, but it requires less storage, reducing the capacity requirement by50 to 90 percent. The overall memory requirement is also reduced.

Instant clones can also be guest customized and join an AD domain while completing the initial bootingprocess. Instant clones are always created in a power-on state and ready for user to log in.

After a user logs in and starts to use the desktop, the capacity requirement grows. When the user logs out,the instant clone is refreshed and shrinks back to its original size.

By disabling certain Windows 7 and Windows 10 service and tasks, you can reduce the growth in disk use ofinstant clones during the time that users are logged in. For more information about disabling these services,see Setting Up Desktop and Application Pools in View for Horizon 7.

To optimize performance, disable these items on Windows parent virtual machines.

n Scheduled disk defragmentation

n Windows Update Service

n Diagnostic Policy Service

n Prefetch and Superfetch features

n Windows Registry backup

n System Restore

n Windows Defender

n Microsoft Feeds Synchronization

Install and Configure VMware AgentsInstall and configure the respective VMware agents in a specific order before you configure the DaaS Agent.

Prerequisites

n Verify that the master virtual machine is set up. See “Configure the Master Virtual Machine,” onpage 22.

n Download the agent installation files from http://www.vmware.com.

Procedure

1 Install the Horizon Agent.

a Run the installer with viewagent-installer.exe if using vCenter to create the master virtualmachine.

b Run the installer with viewagent-installer.exe /vVDM_SKIP_BROKER_REGISTRATION=1 if using non-vCenter environments to author the virtual machine.

c Disable the VMware Horizon View Composer Agent.

d Enable the VMware Horizon Instant Clone Agent.

e Reboot when prompted.

2 Install the DaaS Agent.

Chapter 5 Creating a Desktop Image

VMware, Inc. 25

Page 26: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

3 Run the App Volumes Unified Agent Installer.

a Deselect vROps for Horizon Agent.

b Select Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode.

What to do next

For improved security regarding the use of the Horizon Agent, disable weak ciphers in SSL and TLS, whichrequires you to edit the Group Policy Object (GPO) of the Active Directory server. See the appropriateHorizon Agent documentation for information about disabling weak ciphers in SSL/TLS, such as in theVMware Horizon 7 documentation set.

Configure the DaaS AgentAfter you install the DaaS Agent, you can configure the agent by using DHCP or by editing the Monitor.inifile.

Prerequisites

n Find the tenant appliance address. See “Determine Tenant Appliance IP Addresses,” on page 22.

n Install the DaaS Agent. See “Install and Configure VMware Agents,” on page 25

n Download the DaaS SSL bootstrap. See “Download the DaaS SSL Bootstrap,” on page 21

n In the guest operating system image, open a command prompt as administrator and navigate to theDaaS Agent installation directory.

C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware DaaS Agent\service

n Confirm that the Keytool.exe file is accessible to the guest image and run the file with the bootstrap fileas an argument.

You can ensure that the Keytool.exe file is accessible to the guest image by copying it onto the image oraccessing it through a network file share.

Keytool.exe –f "absolute path for bootstrap file"

n When prompted, enter the encryption password.

You set the encryption password when you downloaded the DaaS SSL bootstrap. See “Download theDaaS SSL Bootstrap,” on page 21.

The Keytool utility performs the bootstrap and moves the certificate to the cert folder.

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

26 VMware, Inc.

Page 27: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

Procedure

u Configure the DaaS Agent using whichever method best suits your needs. However, DHCP is therecommended configuration option.

Option Description

Use DHCP Configure DHCP option code 74 (IRC Chat) to point to the two IPaddresses allocated for the tenant appliances.a On the DHCP server, select Control Panel > Administrative Tools to

open the DHCP configuration client.b Right-click Server Options and select Configure Options.c Click the scope and right-click Scope Options to configure the 074

option code for that scope only. Configuration is the same as for theentire DHCP server.

If you defined limited addresses, you can confine the options'configuration to a specific scope. Configuration is the same as for theentire DHCP server.

d Scroll down to the 074 option for Internet Relay Chat (IRC) and selectthe check box.

e Add IP addresses for tenant appliances.

Edit the Monitor.ini file a Navigate to the directory that contains the MonitorAgent.ini file.n 64-bit: C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\Vmware DaaS

Agent\service

n 32-bit: C:\Program Files\VMware\Vmware DaaSAgent\service

b Open the MonitorAgent.ini file for editing.c In the [element] section, uncomment the standby_address and add the

smartnode-ta1/smartnode-ta2 appliance IP addresses, separated by acomma.

For example: standby_address=10.31.5.20,10.31.5.21d Set auto discover to 0.e Save and close the file.

Chapter 5 Creating a Desktop Image

VMware, Inc. 27

Page 28: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

28 VMware, Inc.

Page 29: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

Export the Master Virtual Machine 6After you configure the agents, you must export the Master virtual machine and copy it to the file share sothat you can create a desktop image.

You must export the master virtual machine as an .ova file. See “Create a File Share,” on page 18.

Procedure

1 Export the master virtual machine as an .ova file.

2 Note the location so that you can copy the master virtual machine to the file share.

3 Copy the .ova file to the root directory of the file share.

You cannot create subfolders.

The master virtual machine powers on after it is copied to the file share. This process takes a few minutes.

VMware, Inc. 29

Page 30: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

30 VMware, Inc.

Page 31: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

Desktop Assignment 7Use the Desktop Assignment section to create a desktop image and set up desktop assignments.

The Desktop Assignment section of the Getting Started page provides starting points for these actions.

Action Description

Create Image At least one image is required for desktop assignment. Animage is used as the OS on your virtual desktop(s). ClickGo to access the Images page where you can create andedit images as well as perform other actions. You can alsoaccess this page from Inventory > Images. See “Create anImage in the Administration Console,” on page 32 fordetails.

Create New Desktop Assignment Create a set of virtual desktops and assign them to users.Click Go to access the Assignments page where you cancreate and edit assignments as well as perform otheractions. You can also access this page from the Assign icon.See “Create a Dedicated or Floating Desktop Assignment,”on page 35 for details.

This chapter includes the following topics:

n “Create an Image in the Administration Console,” on page 32

n “Types of Desktop Assignments,” on page 34

n “Create a Dedicated or Floating Desktop Assignment,” on page 35

VMware, Inc. 31

Page 32: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

Create an Image in the Administration ConsoleCreate a new desktop image from the Images page.

After you copy the master virtual machine to the Horizon Air Node file share, you can create a new desktopimage.

Note n When you use Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode for the Blast Extreme or PCoIP display protocols, the correct

video RAM value is dependent on the number of displays configured for end users and on the displayresolution. The typical recommendation for a four monitor setup is 128 MB. For lower screenresolutions or fewer monitors, configure lower video RAM to save base memory for additionaldesktops.

When you are allocating RAM, avoid choosing an overly conservative setting and take into account thatinsufficient RAM allocations can cause excessive Windows paging. Excessive Windows paging cangenerate I/O that causes significant performance degradations and increases storage I/O load. Configurevideo RAM in the base virtual machine image configuration. To do that, edit the hardware settings ofthe virtual machine when it is powered off.

n If you require the desktop image to be registered against an OU in Active Directory other thanCN=Computers, see the Image Defaults Configuration option.

Prerequisites

Export the master virtual machine .ova file. See Chapter 6, “Export the Master Virtual Machine,” on page 29.

Procedure

1 In the Administration Console, select Inventory > Images and click New.

2 Enter the required information.

Option Description

Desktop Start typing the first few letters of the master virtual machine name. Alldesktops that can be converted to an image will display. Note that it takesapproximately 10 minutes after the Master virtual machine import for theinventory to display. Select the name when it appears. Make sure that thedesktop is powered on prior to conversion.

Domain Required desktop AD domain name

Company Name Your company name

TimeZone Ignore this setting

3 Click Publish.

The publishing process takes several minutes to complete. If successful, the Image task shows asComplete.

Note Do not restore a virtual machine to a snapshot taken prior to the bootstrapping process. If theagent has already been bootstrapped, reverting the virtual machine to a snapshot prevents the agentfrom communicating properly.

4 If the publish operation fails, select Monitor > Activity and locate the failed job.

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

32 VMware, Inc.

Page 33: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

5 Correct the problem, then retry the publish operation

a Select Inventory > Images and select the check box next to the image.

b Click ... and select Convert to Desktop.

c Select New and follow Step 1 to Step 5b to publish the image.

Actions You Can Perform on ImagesYou can perform several actions on an image.

Procedure

1 Select Inventory > Images.

2 Select the check box next to the image on which you want to perform an action.

3 Perform an action on the image according to the selection method.

To rename or duplicate an image, click the appropriate button.

Button Description

Rename Enter a new image name and click Save.

Duplicate Enter a new name and click Save. To perform one of the other available actions, click ... and select the drop-down option of your choice.

Drop-Down Option Description

Delete Permanently deletes the selected image.

Convert to Desktop Converts the selected image to a desktop.

Push Updates Pushes updates to dedicated and floating assignments using the selectedimage. Select the assignment from the list and click OK to push theupdates.

Download Bootstrap Downloads an encrypted bootstrap file for you to deploy to your image(s).You will be prompted to enter a password of 8-20 ASCII characterscontaining at least one each of the following: lowercase letter, uppercaseletter, number, and symbol (!@#$%^&*). Do not use non-ASCII charactersin the password.

Refresh Password If you do this after having downloaded a bootstrap file but before applyingthe bootstrap file using keytool, then the resultant agents will not be ableto pair. Therefore, it is recommended that you download the bootstrap fileagain after refreshing the password.

Update Image and Push Changes to AssignmentsAfter you publish your initial image and create your assignments, you can make changes to that image andpush the changes to your desktop assignments.

You can update the image in place in vCenter by making a copy of the image. You can also perform theupdate offline and drop the new images to the file share.

Important If you perform the update offline, make sure that the.ova file has a different internal name thanthe previous image that you are replacing. Images with duplicate names fail to deploy to vCenter.

Procedure

1 Select Inventory > Images and select the check box next to your image.

2 Click Duplicate, name the new VM and click Save.

Chapter 7 Desktop Assignment

VMware, Inc. 33

Page 34: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

3 Select Monitor > Activity to track the copy process, and verify that the status is successful.

It can take a few minutes for the desktop to be available for selection after the copy process finishes.

4 Select Inventory > Images and select New.

5 In the Desktop field, start typing the name of your new master VM and select it from the drop-downmenu.

A warning message indicates that your VM is currently powered off.

6 Select Power On, wait for the IP Address field to populate, then click the IP address to download anRDP file.

7 Click the RDP file, connect to your VM, and make the required changes to your image.

8 Click Publish.

Wait until the Publish operation finishes and the image is online before continuing.

9 Select Inventory > Images and select the check box next to your new image.

10 Select ... , click Push Updates, select the assignments to update, and click OK.

The system deletes each VM in the selected assignment and recreates it using the new image. If a user islogged into a desktop when you push the updates, the system does not update that desktop until theuser logs off.

11 If no other assignments are using the original image and you want to delete it, select ... and click Delete.

Types of Desktop AssignmentsYou can create different types of desktop assignments to fit your end-user environment needs.

You can create dedicated and floating desktops assignments in Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode.

Note A desktop can have multiple users assigned to it, but it can be used by only one user at a time.

n In a dedicated desktop assignment, each user is assigned a specific remote desktop and returns to thesame desktop at each login. Dedicated assignments require a one-to-one desktop-to-user relationshipand should be sized based on the total user population. For example, you need an assignment of onehundred desktops for a group of one hundred users. The primary use for dedicated desktopassignments is to ensure that the hostname of the desktop VM that each user remains the same betweensessions. Certain software packages might require this use for licensing.

n In a floating desktop assignment, a user receives a different virtual machine with a different machinename with each login. With floating desktop assignments, you can create desktops that shifts of userscan use and that should be sized based on the maximum number of concurrent users. For example,three hundred users can use an assignment of one hundred desktops if they work in shifts of onehundred users at a time. With floating desktop assignments, the user might see different hostnames foreach desktop session.

Note Neither floating nor dedicated desktops provide persistence. Both types are reset after each usersession. Configure persistence as part of an application assignment. See “Create an ApplicationAssignment,” on page 47.

Where possible, use floating desktop assignments because they provide more flexible pool managementcapabilities than dedicated desktop assignments and do not dedicate virtual machine resources for eachuser.

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

34 VMware, Inc.

Page 35: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

Create a Dedicated or Floating Desktop AssignmentYou can create desktop assignments using the Assign icon or from the Getting Started page.

For more information about desktop assignments, see “Types of Desktop Assignments,” on page 34. Formore information about Active Directory, see “Working with Nested Organizational Units,” on page 36.

Procedure

1 On the Getting Started page, in the Desktop Assignment section, click Go for the Create New DesktopAssignment option or click the Assign icon in the left pane.

2 On the Assignments page, click New.

3 In the New Assignment dialog box, click Get Started in the Desktops selection.

4 Select the type of assignment to create and provide the required information to configure the desktopassignment.

Note Windows 10 operating systems perform better with the Advanced Desktop Model and theEnterprise Desktop Model. You can use the Standard Desktop Model with Windows 10, but as a bestpractice only do so for light workloads and basic applications.

Option Description

Desktop Model Select model from the drop-down list.

Assignment Name A unique name for the new assignment.

Default Protocol Select a default display protocol, Blast or PCoIP.Circumstances might occur that cause another protocol to be used insteadof the default protocol. For example the client device does not support thedefault protocol or the end user overrides the default protocol selection.

Capacity Number of desktops required in the assignment.

5 Configure the advanced properties.

Option Description

VM Names Name for all virtual machine names, or guest desktops in this assignment, which will have anumber appended to it, for example, win7-1, win7-2, win7-Floating. The name must startwith a letter and can contain only letters, dashes, and numbers. This value is prefilled basedon the assignment name.

Computer OU Active Directory (AD) Organizational Unit where VMs are located. For example,OU=NestedOrgName,OU=RootOrgName,DC=DomainComponent,DC=eng, and so on. Theentries must be comma-separated with no spaces in between.

Run Once Script (Optional) Location of scripts that should run after system preparation completes.

Session TimeoutInterval

The timeout value for floating and static desktop session pools. The default is seven days(10,080 minutes). The maximum value is 99,999 minutes, approximately 69 days.Note If no user activity occurs before the timeout interval is reached, a message indicatesthat the user will be logged off if they do not click OK in the next 30 seconds. If the logoffoccurs, any unsaved documents are lost.If you are assigning a timeout value for dedicated desktops, you can specify the maximumvalue. If you have a large timeout interval set for floating desktops, the desktops do notreset as quickly if they are not in use. This configuration might result in the pool of availabledesktops running out, and users seeing failure messages.

6 Click Next, select your image, and click Next.

Chapter 7 Desktop Assignment

VMware, Inc. 35

Page 36: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

7 (Optional) On the Active Directory Search page, start typing the name of a user or group from yourActive Directory.

8 Select a group from the list.

9 (Optional) Search for and select additional users or groups, and click Next.

If you assign a dedicated desktop to more than one user, a warning message appears to verify if this isthe intended configuration. The configuration is supported, but the users would share the desktop andonly one can use it at any one time.

10 On the Summary page, confirm that the displayed information is correct and click Submit.

11 Click Assign to see your new assignment.

12 To create additional desktop assignments, click the Assign icon and repeat Step 1 through Step 11.

Working with Nested Organizational UnitsAdd desktops to a nested Organization Unit (OU).

When you create a desktop assignment, you can specify a domain OU in the Computer OU field. You cannotspecify a nested OU. You must locate the nested OU information, then manually enter it in the ComputerOU field.

Procedure

1 From your Active Directory machine, open Active Directory Users and Computers.

2 Select View > Advanced features (Enabled Advanced features).

3 Navigate to the Organizational Unit where the desktops will be placed.

4 Right-click and select Properties.

5 Click the Attribute editor and select distinguishedName.

6 Click View.

7 Enter the distinguished name information in the Computer OU field on the Desktops Assignment page.

Only the OU= part of the string is required. The DC= part is optional.

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

36 VMware, Inc.

Page 37: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

App Assignment 8You must complete certain tasks in the App Assignment section of the Getting Started wizard to create anapplication assignment.

Option Description

AppCapture Run the App Volumes AppCapture utility to scan youravailable applications and add them toHorizon Cloud Manager. You must complete this stepoutside of Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode before creating anApp Assignment. See “Managing Applications forDeployment with AppCapture,” on page 37.Note The AppCapture option does not appear asComplete on the Getting Started page until you completethe AppCapture step and the application is in theinventory.

FileShare Location Register one or more CIFS shares where you will copy theapplications generated by AppCapture.

Create New App Assignment Create your first set of applications and assign them tousers.

Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode supports ThinApp through App Volumes, which delivers ThinApp instances asVMDKs. See ThinApp Virtual Applications with CloudVolumes Shared VMDKs for details.

This chapter includes the following topics:

n “Managing Applications for Deployment with AppCapture,” on page 37

n “Copy AppStacks to File Shares,” on page 46

n “Import AppStacks,” on page 47

n “Create an Application Assignment,” on page 47

n “Working with Writable Volumes,” on page 48

n “Writable Volumes FAQ,” on page 49

Managing Applications for Deployment with AppCaptureYou use AppCapture to create AppStacks for provisioning applications to users.

Before you can assign applications to users, you must capture and package applications into AppStacks byusing the AppCapture utility. You then manually copy the AppStacks to a file share.

VMware, Inc. 37

Page 38: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

AppCapture System RequirementsReview these AppCapture minimum requirements for Windows platforms.

AppCapture System RequirementsTo install and run AppCapture, you must verify that your system meets the following minimumrequirements.

n OS: AppCapture works on Windows 7 and Windows 10 platforms, for both x86 (32-bit) and 64-bitmachines: physical, Workstation, or ESX VMs.

n Disk space: The amount of disk space required depends on the number and size of the applications thatyou are provisioning. Verify that your system has enough disk space for all the AppStacks that you arecreating.

Install AppCaptureUse the AppCapture utility to package applications for copying to a file share.

Prerequisites

Ensure that you do not have the App Volumes agent installed on the VM where you will installAppCapture. If you have the App Volumes agent installed on the VM,

1 Take a snapshot of that VM and clone it.

2 Uninstall the App Volumes agent.

3 Log in as administrator in the VM where you want to install AppCapture.

4 From the VMware downloads page, download the AppCapture installer, VMware-appvolumes-appcapture-<buildnumber>.exe.

<buildnumber> is the current build of the AppCapture installer.

Procedure

1 Double-click the installer and follow the instructions in the wizard.

2 (Optional) Verify that AppCapture.exe is installed in C:\Program Files\VMware\AppCapture (64-bitmachines) or C:\Program Files\VMware\AppCapture (32-bit machines).

Using AppCaptureBefore you can provide applications to users, you must package the applications into AppStacks. You canrun AppCapture either from a command line or from Microsoft PowerShell.

An AppStack is a collection of files, folders, registries, and metadata stored in .vhd or .vmdk files. TheAppStack is accompanied by a .json file.

App Volumes uses only .vmdk files. You might use .vhd files to install applications on a physical machinewith other VMware products.You create AppStacks on a virtual machine with the AppCapture utility.AppCapture is a standalone utility which you run outside of App Volumes.

Using AppCapture from a Command LineYou can create an AppStack by running AppCapture from a command line or with Microsoft PowerShell.

To run AppCapture with Microsoft PowerShell, see “Using AppCapture with Microsoft PowerShell,” onpage 42.

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

38 VMware, Inc.

Page 39: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

Run AppCapture from the Command LineYou can run AppCapture from a command line.

Note You must capture applications from the same OS into which you mount them. For example, if usersare operating a Win7x64 OS, you must capture the applications by using a similar or an identical base OSWin7x64 image.

Prerequisites

1 You must run AppCapture as administrator.

2 Verify that User Account Control (UAC) in Windows is disabled. To turn off UAC, see http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/turn-user-account-control-on-off#1TC=windows-7.

3 Verify that the CLI command AppCapture.exe is installed in C:\Program Files(x86)\VMware\AppCapture (64-bit machines) or C:\Program Files\VMware\AppCapture (32-bit machines).

4 To view options of the AppCapture.exe command, see “AppCapture Command-Line Options,” onpage 40.

Procedure

1 Take a snapshot of the system.

You can revert to the snapshot after the capture session.

2 Open a console window.

3 Run the AppCapture.exe command: AppCapture.exe /n your_appstack_name.

Do not press Enter at this point. Run all installers first, and return to this window. .

The AppStack virtual machine disk is ready in generally less than a minute.

4 Close the console window and run normal Windows installation for each of the applications that youwant to capture.

a Accept the default installation of all applications on the C: drive. The installation activity redirectsto the virtual output disk.

b If an installer requires a reboot, wait for the reboot to finish.

c If this feature is available, you can also run ThinApp msi packages. You can install these packagesin the same way that you install other application msi packages. See the latest ThinAppdocumentation for information about how to create ThinApp msi packages.

5 Finish virtual disk creation.

a After all installers that are required to be captured in this AppStack have run, return to the consolewindow.

b Press Enter to initiate a reboot and finish virtual disk creation.

After the reboot you see new AppStacks containing applications.

c Verify that you have new .vhd and .vmdk files in C:\ProgramData\VMware\AppCapture\appvhds.

6 Run the AppCapture.exe command to view applications in the .vhdfile and .vmdk files. For .vhd files:AppCapture.exe /list my_AppStack_Name.vhd and for .vmdk files: AppCapture.exe /listmy_AppStack_Name.vmdk

7 Copy the AppStacks that you have created to a staging file share of your choice.

8 Revert to the system snapshot that you captured before you started the first capture session.

Chapter 8 App Assignment

VMware, Inc. 39

Page 40: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

9 Copy the AppStacks from the staging file share to your system.

AppCapture Command-Line Options

To manage applications for deployment, you use command-line options.

AppCapture.exe Command Options

You can use these options for the AppCapture.exe command.

The /meta, /vhd, and /vmdk options are useful if you accidentally delete a .json, .vhd, or .vmdk file. Ifa .json file is deleted, App Volumes cannot read the AppStack.

The AppCapture.exe command accepts the following options:

n /? - Display help for the AppCapture.exe command.

n /a - Specify an author's name for the AppStack. If the name contains at least one space, put the name inparentheses.

Example: AppCapture.exe /n /a (IT Admin)

n /d - Specify a description for an AppStack. Example: This disk contains XYZ suite of applications.

n /list - List the contents of the AppStack .json, .vhd, and .vmdk files. If you are not using the defaultdirectory, specify the directory where the files are located. Example: AppCapture.exe /list filePath.

n /meta - Generate a .json file by using a .vmdk file as input. If you are not using the default path, specifythe path containing the .vmdk file. Example: AppCapture.exe /meta appStackPath.

n /n - Create an AppStack. Example: AppCapture.exe /n .

n /o - Specify an output directory for the AppStack files. The default directory isC:\ProgramData\VMware\AppCapture\appvhds. You can use this option with the /s option to create anAppStack from an existing AppStack. See “Update an AppStack from the Command Line,” onpage 41.

n /s - Specify a source directory for the AppStack files. The default directory isC:\ProgramData\VMware\AppCapture\appvhds. Do not use this option if you are installing a newapplication.

You can use this option with the /o option to create an AppStack from an existing AppStack. See “Update an AppStack from the Command Line,” on page 41.

AppCapture.exe /n newAppstackName /s oldAppStack.vhd /o newAppStackDir.

n /vhd - Create a .vhd file from a .vmdk file. If you are not using the default path, specify the pathcontaining the .vhd file.

Example: AppCapture.exe /vmdk appStackPath.vhd.

n /test <Provisioned AppStack Path>.vhd [* | GUID] - Attach or virtualize applications afterprovisioning the application. When using the /test option with no other parameters, the AppStackshould contain only one application bundle. Example:AppCapture.exe /test Provisioned appStackPath.vhd.

Virtualize all application bundles in the AppStack. Example:AppCapture.exe /test Provisioned appStackPath.vhd *

Virtualize application bundles that are identified by their corresponding GUIDs in the AppStack.Example: AppCapture.exe /test Provisioned appStackPath.vhd GUID1, GUID2.. GUIDn

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

40 VMware, Inc.

Page 41: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

Merging AppStacks

You can merge two or more AppStacks from the command line by using AppMerge.

Use AppMerge to merge two or more existing AppStacks into one file. AppMerge takes as its input .vhdfiles associated with an AppStack.

Note The input AppStack files must all be of type .vhd. You can create a merged output AppStack of adifferent type with the /vhd and /vmdk options.

AppMerge has this syntax:

AppMerge.exe /o outputAppStack /s "inputAppStack1file","inputAppStack2file",

"inputAppStack3file",...

Example: Creating a Merged AppStack

In this example, you create an AppStack file called MergedAppstack.vhd from three existing AppStack files,Office.vhd, Notepad++.vhd, and Firefox.vhd:

AppMerge.exe /o C:\MergedAppstack.vhd /s "Office.vhd","Notepad++.vhd","Firefox.vhd"

You can specify input file paths, output file paths, and file names. In this case, the three input AppStacks arepresumed to be in the default AppStack location. The output AppStack goes in the C: drive.

Besides the /o and /s parameters, AppMerge accepts the following options:

n /df. Deletes a specific application bundle. Takes a full path of a file that contains a single GUID in eachline as its arguments.

n /dl. Deletes a specific application bundle. Takes comma-separated GUIDs as arguments.

n /list. Lists the content of the newly created AppStack file.

n /meta. Creates a .json file from the output AppStack file.

n /vhd Creates a .vhd output AppStack file from .vmdk AppStack input files.

n /vmdk. Creates a .vmdk output AppStack file from .vhd AppStack input files.

See also “AppCapture Command-Line Options,” on page 40.

Update an AppStack from the Command Line

You update an AppStack to add applications, update existing applications, or remove applications from theAppStack.

Prerequisites

Verify that you have the correct credentials and you are taking the appropriate precautions:

n Run AppCapture as administrator.

n Create at least one AppStack.

n Disable User Account Control (UAC) notifications on the provisioning machine. See http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/turn-user-account-control-on-off#1TC=windows-7.

n Become familiar with the command options that apply to updating an AppStack. See “AppCaptureCommand-Line Options,” on page 40).

Procedure

1 Open the command prompt and navigate to the AppCapture folder with either cd "\ProgramFiles\VMware\AppCapture" (64-bit) or cd "\Program Files (x86)\VMware\AppCapture" (32-bit).

Chapter 8 App Assignment

VMware, Inc. 41

Page 42: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

2 Update an AppStack:

a Run AppCapture.exe /n appStackName /s sourceAppStackDir.

sourceAppStackDir is the path of the AppStack that you want to update.

This example takes an existing AppStack and updates it into a new update AppStack:

AppCapture.exe /n AdminUser2.0 /s

"C:ProgramData\VMware\AppCapture\appvhds\AdminUser1.0" /o C:\NewFolder

You can include other command options that apply to updating an AppStack.

The AppStack is created and stored in the location that you specify, or by default in the appvhdsfolder.

b Add applications, update existing applications, or remove applications from the AppStack.

Task Action

Add applications or updateexisting applications

Run the installers for the applications that you want to install or updateon the AppStack.

(Optional) Remove applications 1 Navigate to Control Panel > Programs and Features.2 Select the applications that you want to remove from the AppStack

and complete the uninstall procedure.

3 After you add or remove the applications, navigate to the command prompt and press Enter.

4 Press Enter to restart the machine and finalize the AppStack update procedure.

After the machine restarts, the .json, .vhd, and .vmdk files are created. When the application capture processfinishes, the applications are removed from the machine.

Using AppCapture with Microsoft PowerShellYou can use Microsoft PowerShell cmdlets to capture applications, create and update AppStacks, andrecreate deleted AppStacks with AppCapture. You can use the 32-bit or 64-bit PowerShell console to run theAppCapture module.

You can also run AppCapture from the command line, as described in “Run AppCapture from theCommand Line,” on page 39.

Note You must capture applications from the same OS into which you mount them. For example, if usersare operating a Win7x64 OS, you must capture the applications by using a similar or an identical base OSWin7x64 image.

Run AppCapture Using PowerShellYou can run AppCapture using Microsoft PowerShell.

Prerequisites

Verify that you are logged in as administrator and you are taking the appropriate precautions:

n Run AppCapture as administrator.

n Disable User Account Control (UAC). See http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/turn-user-account-control-on-off#1TC=windows-7

n Become familiar with the AppCapture cmdlets. See “PowerShell Options and Parameters,” on page 43

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

42 VMware, Inc.

Page 43: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

Procedure

1 Take a snapshot of the system.

You can revert to the snapshot after the capture session.

2 Open a 32-bit or 64-bit PowerShell console,

3 Import the PowerCLI module using the import-module vmware.appcapture command.

This imports the AppCapture module.

4 (optional) To see a list of all modules, run the get-module command.

5 Run the command Start-AVAppCapture -Name appStackFile, where appStackFile is the name of theAppStack .vhd file to create.

Do not press Enter yet.

appStackFile.vhd is created.

6 Leave the PowerShell console and install, on this machine, any applications to be provisioned.

7 After all of the applications have been installed, open the PowerShell console again.

8 Press Enter.

9 Reboot your machine if necessary.

In the AppCapture console window you see the locations of the AppStack files .json, .vhd and .vmdk.By default, these files are stored in C:\ProgramData\VMware\AppCapture\appvhds.

10 (Optional) Examine the .json, .vhd, and .vmdk files in that directory to ensure that the applicationshave been bundled.

11 Copy the AppStacks that you have created to a staging file share.

12 Revert to the system snapshot that you captured before you started the first capture session.

13 Copy the AppStacks from the staging file share to your system.

PowerShell Options and Parameters

You can use several options when you run AppCapture with Microsoft PowerShell.

AppCapture Options and Parameters with PowerShell

Use the Start-AVAppCapture to create an AppStack and add applications to it.

Chapter 8 App Assignment

VMware, Inc. 43

Page 44: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

Table 8‑2. Start-AVAppCapture Options

Start-AVAppCapture Parameter Description

-Author Author-name Specify an author who is associated with this AppStack.

CommonParameters Use one or more common parameters. The commonparameters are a set of cmdlet parameters implemented byWindows PowerShell.Start-AVAppCapture supports these common parameters:n Debugn ErrorActionn ErrorVariablen OutBuffern OutVariablen PipelineVariablen Verbosen WarningActionn WarningVariableFor more information about common parameters, see about_CommonParameters.

-Description text Specify a description for an AppStack. If the descriptionincludes a space, enter the description inside parentheses,for example, -Description (HR Apps).

-Destination output-directory Specify an output directory for an AppStack. By default,AppStacks are placed inC:\ProgramData\VMware\AppCapture\appvhds.

-Force Create an output directory if it does not exist. You specifythe output directory with the -Destination parameter.

-Name vhd-name Specify a name for the applications being captured.The output .vhd file is named by using the specifiedapplication name.

-Novmdk Specify this option to prevent post-capture VMDK diskcreation.

-Path directory-path Specify a path to an AppStack. The AppStack is used as atemplate for the current capture.Do not use this option if you are installing a newapplication.

You can perform several workflows with the AppCapture.

Table 8‑3. AppCapture PowerShell Workflows

Workflow Description

ConvertTo-AVVhdDisk Generate a .vhd file by using the .vmdk file as input.

ConvertTo-AVVmdkDisk Generate a .vmdk file by using the .vhd file as input.

Export-AVMetadata Generate a .json file by using a .vhd or .vmdk file asinput.

Merge-AVAppDisks Merge AppStack .vhd files into a new AppStack .vhd. “Merging AppStacks,” on page 41 describes the command-line version, which is similar.

Remove-AVApp Delete an AppStack from a disk.

Reset-AVConfig Clear AppCapture configuration information from themachine

Show-AVDiskDetails List the contents of the .vhd file, .json file, or .vmdk file.

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

44 VMware, Inc.

Page 45: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

Table 8‑3. AppCapture PowerShell Workflows (Continued)

Workflow Description

Start-AVAppCapture Start the procedure to capture applications.

Start-AVAppUpdate Update an AppStack.

These examples include the workflow file paths and the commands to reach the workflows.

n This example begins a new capture session. The output .vhd is named AdobeSuite.vhd and is generatedat C:\AppCapture. The author is set to "John" and a description is added:

Start-AVAppCapture -Name AdobeSuite -Author John -Description "This disk contains the

AdobeSuite application"

n ConverTo-AVVhdDisk. This example generates an output .vhd format file, Adobe.vhd, from a source file,Adobe.vmdk. The output file is placed in a different directory from the source file:

ConvertTo-AVVhdDisk -Path "C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\AppCapture\appvhds\Adobe.vmdk" -

Destination "C:\AppCaptures"

n Export-AVMetadata. This example generates the output metadata file Adobe.json. The file is generated inthe same place as Adobe.vhd:

Export-AVMetadata -Path "C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\AppCapture\appvhds\Adobe.vhd"

n Merge-AVAppDisks. This example merges all the .vhd files under the .\temp and .\appstacks directoriesand generates a Notepad+Adobe.vhd file in C\temp.

Merge-AVAppDisks -Path .\temp\*.vhd .\appstacks\*.vhd -Destination c:\temp\Notepad+Adobe.vhd

n Remove-AVApp. This example deletes the Adobe and Notepad applications from the input disk Adobe+Notepad.vhd. Each application is identified by its unique GUID:

Remove-AVApp -Path C:\Temp\Adobe+Notepad.vhd -Destination c:\Temp\empty.vhd -Guids

"{6e48d26c-6d35-44de-9674 -afa364af48b7},{8b01g60w-3e05-33wq-1274-sfa518vi94i0}"

n Show-AVDiskDetails. This example displays the details from a .json file. The syntax is the same for .vhdand .vmdk files:

Show-AVDiskDetails -Path "C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\WEM Capture\appvhds\Adobe.json"

n Start-AVAppUdate. This example updates the AdobeSuite.vhd with a hot fix. A copy of AdobeSuite.vhd iscreated and is named AdobeHotfixUpdate.vhd. All the hot fix installations are captured inAdobeHotfixUpdate.vhd:

Start-AVAppUpdate -Name AdobeHotfixUpdate -Path "C:\Program Files

(x86)\VMware\AppCapture\appvhds\AdobeSuite.vhd"

To get help about workflows, run the get-help command.

Table 8‑4. AppCapture PowerShell Workflow Information and Examples

Command Description

get-help WorkFlowName View general information for a workflow.

get-help WorkFlowName -detailed View detailed information for a workflow.

get-help WorkFlowName -examples View an example of a workflow.

get-help WorkFlowName -full View technical information for a workflow.

Chapter 8 App Assignment

VMware, Inc. 45

Page 46: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

AppCapture Folders and FilesAppCapture creates several files and folders.

AppCapture creates various folders in C:\ProgramData\VMware\AppCapture\appvhds.

Table 8‑5. AppCapture Folders

Folder Description

appvhds .vhd, .json, and .vdmk files that are generated when youcreate an AppStack by using AppCapture.

logs Log file generated by AppCapture. The log file is namedAppCapture.log and is located inC:\ProgramData\VMware\AppCapture\logs.

modules PowerCLI .dll files that are required to performPowerCLI operations.

plugins VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode plug-ins. Plug-insconvert the AppStack to the correct format for deploymentto end users.

templates .vhd file templates that act as boilerplate .vhd files onwhich AppStacks are created.

AppCapture creates these files in the appvhds directory unless you specify a different directory. See “AppCapture Command-Line Options,” on page 40.

Table 8‑6. AppCapture Files

File Description

application.vhd .vhd file that holds the application files that are part of theAppStack.

application.vmdk VMDK-format Virtual Hard Disk file thatVMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode natively uses.

application.json The .json file with information about the applications thatare captured in the AppStack.

Copy AppStacks to File SharesAfter you have created your AppStacks, you must place them in file shares. You useHorizon Air Hybrid-Mode to assign the applications in the AppStacks to users.

Procedure

1 Open a File Explorer window for \\share IP\sharename

This is the file share where the AppStacks go. This file share is the file share that you configure in theHorizon Air Hybrid-Mode UI.

2 Copy your AppStack .vmdk and .json files to this directory.

AppCapture produces two types of files:n .vmdk files for mounting AppStacks on virtual machines

n .vhd files for mounting them on physical machines

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode uses only .vmdk files. However, you might use .vhd files to installapplications on a physical machine with other VMware products.

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

46 VMware, Inc.

Page 47: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

What to do next

After adding AppStacks to file shares, you must synchronize the file shares by usingHorizon Air Hybrid-Mode. See “Import AppStacks,” on page 47.

Import AppStacksAny time you add applications or customizations to a file share, you must import the AppStacks orCustomizations from the external fileshare to the internal datastore.

Procedure

1 Navigate to Settings > Locations.

2 Click File Share.

3 Select the check box for the file share that has the AppStack to import.

You can import only one file share at a time.

4 Click ... and select Import.

Create an Application AssignmentAfter you create a desktop assignment and configure your App Stacks, you can create an applicationassignment.

For more details about writable volumes, see “Working with Writable Volumes,” on page 48 and “WritableVolumes FAQ,” on page 49.

Procedure

1 On the Getting Started page, in the Create New Apps section, click Go and click the Assign icon.

2 On the Assignments pane, click New.

3 In the New Assignment dialog box, click Get Started in the Applications selection.

4 Provide the required information to configure the application assignment.

Option Description

Assignment Name Unique name for the new assignment.

OS Select the correct OS from the drop-down menu. This OS must be the sameOS as the OS used to capture the applications.

Computer Name Prefix (Optional) Enter a prefix. Entering a prefix limits access to the applicationsassignment to authorized users who log in to a desktop assignment thathas the same prefix at the beginning of its name. If you leave this optionblank, all authorized users can access the new applications assignmentregardless of the desktop assignments they are logged in to.

Writable Volume This option is necessary only if you are creating persistent desktopsessions. When enabled, users have a persistent virtual disk assignedwhere any data they save during their session is kept for use in futuresessions.n A writable volume can be entitled only with an application. To use this

function, confirm that you captured and assigned at least oneapplication.

n A writable volume can be attached to only a single desktop session at agiven time.

n If a writable volume is entitled to a named user, then it is created whenthe assignment is created. If it is assigned to a group of users, then it iscreated at the user's first login, which leads to slightly longer logintimes for the initial login.

Chapter 8 App Assignment

VMware, Inc. 47

Page 48: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

5 Click Next.

6 In New Applications dialog, select the applications to include in the assignment, and click Next.

If you select an application that is part of an application group, all of the applications in the group areselected and are included in the assignment.

7 In the Active Directory Search text box, start typing the name of a group from your Active Directory.

8 Select a group from the list.

9 (Optional) Search for and select additional groups, and click Next.

10 On the Summary page, confirm that the information is correct, and click Submit.

11 Select Assign to see your new assignment.

12 On the Assignments page, click the new assignment to view details.

Working with Writable VolumesWritable volumes are containers for persistent, user-installed applications and settings. With writablevolumes you can maintain users' data, settings, and profiles between their login sessions.

Users can have more than one writable volume assigned to them. A user can attach only one writablevolume per VM.

Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode handles most implementation details for writable volumes. In most cases youonly need to add or delete a writable volume for a user. You do not need to directly modify writablevolumes.

The following restrictions and limitations pertain when you use writable volumes inHorizon Air Hybrid-Mode.

Users and Writable Volumesn You can have multiple writable volumes per user or per OS, but they are allocated according to a

combined mapping of User and OS Type.

n A writable volume is attached to a desktop at user login. When the user logs out, the writable volume isunmounted and detached from the desktop VM.

n Based on assignments, one user can have multiple writable volumes according to each OS Type.

n When two app assignments for a desktop OS and user have the writable volume option enabled, twounique writable disks are created in the back-end datastore. Only the first created writable volume isused. The other writable volume is not mounted.

Monitoring and Accessing Writable Volumesn A writable volume can only be presented with an app assignment.

n Regardless of the desktop model, the writable volume capacity is identical for all users and desktop-OStypes.

n A writable volume is created for each OS and desktop prefix combination, and is available only for asingle desktop instance with this combination. It is still in use if a user has an active or disconnectedsession using that writable volume. If this user attempts to log in to other desktops with the same OStype and desktop prefix combination, the login fails.

n If a separate app assignment with a writable volume is available for the user and OS type, a useraccessing a desktop that has a different OS is presented with an entirely new, blank, writable volume.

n Writable volumes may not be accessible in all assigned desktop types.

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

48 VMware, Inc.

Page 49: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

n You cannot see a list of writable volumes created or assigned by using the Horizon Air Hybrid-ModeAdministrator console.

n You cannot explicitly monitor the session information for writable volumes.

Disabling or Deleting Writable Volumesn You cannot format or reset the writable volume to return its data to its original state.

n Removing the app assignment with a writable volume puts the corresponding writable volume in adisabled state.

n You cannot delete the writable volumes for a given user or OS from the Administration console.

n The disabled writable volume message is activated when any app assignment for the User-OScombination is added or updated with the writable volume option enabled.

Writable Volumes FAQLearn how to manage writable volumes in Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode.

See also “Working with Writable Volumes,” on page 48.

1 How do I update an application with a writable volume?

Use one of the following options:

n Modify the exiting assignment, deselect the legacy application, choose a new application, then saveand exit.

n Remove the existing assignment and create an assignment with a writable volume. This actionreactivates the existing writable volume, which is presented to the user.

2 What is the writable volume size allocated to the user per operating system?

The default size of the writable volume is 10 GB.

3 Can I increase the size of the writable volume?

No. You cannot change the size of the writable volume by using the Administrator Console inHorizon Air Hybrid-Mode.

4 I cannot see the writable volume on my additional desktop.

To avoid conflict and to ensure error-free operation, writable volumes are enabled for one session peruser for a given desktop OS type. To enable access to a writable volume on an additional desktop, firstlog out from any existing connected or disconnected sessions before you log in to the additionaldesktop.

5 How can I check the use and free capacity of my allotted writable volume?

You cannot check this information from the Administrator Console. You can obtain the current usageand total capacity from the end-user desktop by navigating to Computer management > Diskmanagement, and checking the details of the disk volume labeled CVWritable.

6 When is the writable volume created and attached to the desktop?

A writable volume is created for each user in the back-end datastore when you create the applicationassignment with the writable volume. It is attached to the desktop at the time of user login.

7 What happens when a writable volume is assigned to a domain user group?

A writable volume template disk is created in the back end at the time of assignment to the user group.When each user logs in for the first time, a unique writable volume is cloned and attached to the user'sdesktop. If the user already has an individual assignment, then cloning is ignored and the existingwritable disk is attached.

Chapter 8 App Assignment

VMware, Inc. 49

Page 50: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

50 VMware, Inc.

Page 51: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

Customizing the User Environment 9You can use the Administration console to customize the user experience for non-production environments.

You can specify various user environment settings to manage the end-user environment. See UserEnvironment Manager Administrator's Guide https://www.vmware.com/pdf/uem-90-admin-guide.pdf.

Note User environment customizations are an experimental feature in this release ofVMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode. When you create or edit configurations for productionimplementations, use the standalone UEM Management console and a separate file share. Do not use theAdministration console. Customizations created, edited, and assigned by using theVMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration console are intended for only non-productionenvironments.

Customizations created with one console must not be edited in another. For example, do not create acustomization with the standalone UEM Management console and edit it with theVMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode console.

If you are using the VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration console to create customizations fora user environment, only the user settings Drive Mapping, Environment Variable, File type Association,Logon Task, Logoff Task, Printer Mapping, Shortcut, Triggered Task, and Hide Drive are available forcustomization. If you plan to use the customizations in a production environment, see the User EnvironmentManager Administrator's Guide https://www.vmware.com/pdf/uem-90-admin-guide.pdf.

This chapter includes the following topics:

n “Create UEM File and Profile Shares,” on page 51

n “Configure the UEM Group Policy,” on page 52

n “Create a File Share for Customizations,” on page 52

n “Create or Edit a Customization,” on page 53

n “Assign a Customization,” on page 53

Create UEM File and Profile SharesBefore you can use the experimental Customizations feature, you must create a User Environment Manager(UEM) file share and profile share, then configure the UEM Group Policy.

Note The file share and profile share must be available before configuring the User Environment MangerGroup Policy. The file share stores the customization configurations, and is referred to as the UEMConfiguration Share in the standalone UEM.

VMware, Inc. 51

Page 52: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

Procedure

1 Create a file share in the environment that is accessible to all the end-users with read/write permission.

The file share must be in this format: \\<File server IP or FQDN>\ <user's share name>.

For example: \\<File server IP or FQDN>\UEMShare

2 Create a profile share in the environment that is accessible to all the end-users with read/writepermission.

The file share must be in this format: \\<File server IP or FQDN>\ <user's sharename>\<profile_folder_name>.

For example: \\<File server IP or FQDN>\UEMShare\Profiles

What to do next

Configure the UEM Group Policy. See “Configure the UEM Group Policy,” on page 52.

Configure the UEM Group PolicyBefore you can use the experimental Customizations feature, you must create a User Environment Manager(UEM) file share and profile share, then configure the UEM Group Policy.

Prerequisites

The file share and profile share must be available before configuring the User Environment Manger GroupPolicy. The file share stores the customization configurations, and is referred to as the UEM ConfigurationShare in the standalone UEM.

Procedure

u Configure the UEM Group Policy as described in Section 3.4 of the User Environment ManagerAdministrator's Guide https://www.vmware.com/pdf/uem-90-admin-guide.pdf.

What to do next

Create a file share for customizations. See “Create a File Share for Customizations,” on page 52.

Create a File Share for CustomizationsCreate a file share as part of the set up for creating customizations.

Prerequisites

“Create UEM File and Profile Shares,” on page 51.

Procedure

1 From theHorizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administrator Console, select Settings > Locations.

2 Select File Share > New.

3 Configure the new file share.

Option Action

Name Provide a value.

Type Select Customization.

Source path parameter value Set to the UEM file share that you previously configured. You can create only one customization type for a file share.

4 Select Destination vCenters.

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

52 VMware, Inc.

Page 53: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

5 Click Save.

Create or Edit a CustomizationYou can customize various user settings with Customizations.

Procedure

1 From the Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode console, click Inventory in the menu bar on the left.

2 Click Customizations.

The Customizations inventory page appears.

3 Click New.

4 Enter a name for the new customization.

5 Select the type of customization that you want to create.

Option Description

Drive mappings Map drives on the user's computer to remote drives.

Environment variables Set environment variables, for example: PATH for a search path forapplications.

File type associations Set which applications to associate with specific file extensions, forexample: Word for .docx files.

Hidden drives Set which drives are hidden on the user's computer.

Logon tasks Set commands to run when the user logs on.

Logoff tasks Set commands to run when the user logs off.

Printer mappings Map a printer, set a default printer, and so on.

Shortcuts Set shortcuts to specific programs, for example: Place a shortcut icon forMicrosoft Word on the user's desktop.

Triggered tasks Map certain actions to specific events; e.g., display a message when a userlocks the workstation.

6 (Optional) Enter a description of the customization.

7 Click Save.

The new customization appears in the Customizations inventory page.

What to do next

“Assign a Customization,” on page 53

Assign a CustomizationAfter you create a customization, you can assign conditions to it and assign the customization to users.

By assigning conditions to a customization, you can ensure that the customization is only applied undercertain circumstances. For example, you might want to set certain login tasks if the user's machine isrunning on a battery. These instructions are for creating a new Customizations assignment.

Table 9‑1. Customizations Conditions

Condition Description

computer battery Checks whether the computer has a battery, or is runningon a battery.

Chapter 9 Customizing the User Environment

VMware, Inc. 53

Page 54: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

Table 9‑1. Customizations Conditions (Continued)

Condition Description

computer group Checks whether the computer or the user is a member ofthe specified group.

computer organization unit Checks whether the computer or user is a direct or indirectmember of the specified organizational unit .

environment variable Checks whether the specified environment variablematches the specified criterion. The comparison is case-insensitive.

file or folder path Checks whether the specified file or folder exists. Thespecified path can be a directory or file name, and the lastcomponent of the path can contain wildcards. The path cancontain environment variables.

file version check Checks the file version of the specified file. This version istypically a .exe file, but any file with a version resourcecan be used. The file name can contain environmentvariables.

IP address Checks if one of the network adapters has an IP address inthe specified range.Empty octets at the start of the range are interpreted as 0,and at the end of the range, as 255.

OS architecture Checks the architecture (32-bit or 64-bit) of the operatingsystem the UEM agent is running on.

OS version Checks the Windows version of the system the UEM agentis running on.

product version check Checks the product version of the specified file. This istypically a .exe file, but any file with a version resourcecan be used. The file name can contain environmentvariables.

registry key Checks if the specified registry key exists in the selectedregistry hive.

registry key value Checks if the specified registry value matches the specifiedcriterion.

terminal server client name The terminal server client name, for example, the name ofthe Horizon View Client's host machine. Checks if theendpoint name matches the specified criterion.

terminal server IP address The terminal server IP address, for example, the IP addressof the Horizon View Client's host machine. Checks if theendpoint IP address is in the specified range.Empty octets at the start of the range are interpreted as 0and at the end of the range, as 255.

Prerequisites

You must have created at least one customization. See “Create or Edit a Customization,” on page 53.

Procedure

1 From the Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode console, click New > Create a New Customizations Assignment.

2 Enter the customization definition information and click Next.

3 (Optional) Enter text in the Filter text box to view only matching customizations.

4 Select the customizations that you want to assign to a user or group of users.

5 Click Next.

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

54 VMware, Inc.

Page 55: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

6 Select a condition from the drop-down menu.

Most of the conditions have comparison operators associated with them. For example, the commandcondition allows you to search on an exit code that is equal to, greater than, or less than a given value.

7 Click Next.

8 Enter the name of a group in the User Groups box to see a list of matching names of user and groups.

9 Select the users and groups that you want.

The new group is added to the list of selected users and groups.

10 Click Next.

11 Review your choices and click Submit.

12 (Optional) Clicking the name of a customization assignment on the Assignments page takes you to asummary page for that assignment and displays which Customizations that assignment uses.

The Customizations you selected are assigned to the designated groups.

Chapter 9 Customizing the User Environment

VMware, Inc. 55

Page 56: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

56 VMware, Inc.

Page 57: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

About Menu Selections 10The menu icons provide a quick way to monitor activity and perform a variety of functions.

The icons are located to the left of the Administration Console.

Table 10‑1. Administrator Functions

Selection Description

Monitor Displays dashboards for monitoring desktop information,administrator and user activity, and user and desktopmapping.

Assign Create, edit, delete, view, or recover a desktop, application,or customization assignment.

Inventory View and edit imported applications and desktop images,and customizations.

Settings View and edit General Settings, Active Directory, Roles &Permissions, Locations, Infrastructure, Utility VMs, and 2Factor Authentication, and access the Getting Started page.

This chapter includes the following topics:

n “The Monitor Icon,” on page 57

n “Assign Icon,” on page 59

n “Inventory Icon,” on page 60

n “The Settings Icon,” on page 61

The Monitor IconAccess Desktop information, Administrator and User Activity, and view Reports detailing User andDesktop mapping.

There are three selections available from the Monitor icon.

Option Description

Dashboard Displays details on desktop connections, connection states,Horizon Air Node states, and capacity allocation.

Activity Displays activity details for Administrators and Users.

Reports Provides mapping details for Users and Desktops

VMware, Inc. 57

Page 58: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

Dashboard PageThe Dashboard shows statistical information about connections and desktop capacity allocation.

The Dashboard page is available from the Monitor icon. You can see statistical information for thesecategories.

Category Description

Appliances The health status of the appliances that make up theHorizon Air Node.

Connections Number of connected sessions, by assignment type.

Connection States Number of connected sessions, by status: Active, Idle,Disconnected.

Capacity Desktop and Disk space capacity in use, and total allocateddesktops by type (standard, advanced, enterprise).

The Dashboard refreshes every five minutes with a message indicating the amount of time remaining untilthe next refresh. You can also refresh the page manually.

Activity PageThe Activity page shows data regarding current and past events in the system.

The Activity page is available from the Monitor icon. You can perform these tasks.

n Use the Show filter to display events for only a certain period of time.

n View the total number of events.

n Use the Filter box to filter events.

n Refresh the list.

n Download information in the list in .xlsx format with the Export feature.

The Activity page contains tabs for administrator and user events.

Administrator EventsThe Administrator tab displays administrator events with information for each action. Expand an event toview details and subtasks for that event.

Column Description

Description Details regarding the event.

Percentage Completion Current percentage of event completed.

Status Successful indicates an event was performed in its entirety.Failed indicates an event was either partially performed ornot performed at all.

Time Time that the event was logged.

User EventsThe User tab displays user events with information for each event.

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

58 VMware, Inc.

Page 59: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

Column Description

Description Details regarding the event.

Time Time that the event was logged.

The Reports PageUse the Reports page to view mapping data for users and desktops in the system.

In Monitor > Reports, you can view details for these User Mapping and Desktop Mapping categories.

Mapping Type Details

User Mapping View details and sort by User name, Domain, Assignmentname, Desktop Model, and Mapping Type (pool or static).

Desktop Mapping View details and sort by VM Name, Model, AssignmentName, Type, Mapped Users and Mapped Groups.

You can also manually refresh this page, filter your search, and export data to a Microsoft Excel worksheet.

Assign IconYou can create, edit, delete, and recover assignments.

Click the Assign icon to access the Assignments page, where you can take these actions.

Action Description

New Create a new Applications, Desktops, or Customizationassignment. You must have at least one existingcustomization to create a Customization assignment.

Edit Select an assignment to make changes, or drill down toview summary and sessions information.

Delete Delete an assignment.

Recover Recover desktops that encountered an error during theprevious image update.

Create an AssignmentYou can create applications, desktops, or customization assignments.

Procedure

1 Click Assign.

2 On the Assignments page, click New.

3 Click Get Started for the type of assignment to create.

Note You must have at least one existing customization in order to create a Customizationassignment.

Chapter 10 About Menu Selections

VMware, Inc. 59

Page 60: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

Edit an AssignmentYou can change assignment settings such as capacity and assigned users.

Procedure

1 On the Assignments page, select the assignment to edit and click Edit.

2 Make your changes and click Submit.

If you edit the capacity of a desktops assignment, it takes a few minutes for the system to reflect thechange.

Delete an AssignmentYou can delete assignments if they are no longer needed.

An assignment can be deleted only if it contains no virtual machines.

Procedure

1 Select the assignment to delete and click Delete.

Option Action

Dedicated assignments Delete the virtual machines from the Assignment page.

Floating assignments Set the assignment size to zero.

2 Click Delete in the confirmation dialog box to permanently delete the assignment.

Recover an AssignmentYou can recover desktops that encountered an error during a previous image update.

Procedure

1 Select the assignment to recover.

2 Click Recover.

Inventory IconView inventory details for applications, customizations, and desktop images.

Use the Inventory icon to perform these actions.

Option Description

Applications View all of the applications that are imported. Sort byStatus, Application, OS, Publisher, and Assignments.

Customizations View configured customizations, From here you can create,edit, and delete customizations.

Images View all of the desktop images that are imported. Fromhere you can create a new image, or select an existingimage and rename, delete, take offline or duplicate it. Youcan also convert the image to the desktop and pushupdates, and rollback or delete backups. See Chapter 7,“Desktop Assignment,” on page 31.

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

60 VMware, Inc.

Page 61: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

The Settings IconEdit general settings, upload certificates and more.

Select the Settings icon to access these options.

Option Description

General Settings Displays settings for networks, domain, etc. You can editsettings from this page, and upload certificates. See “EditGeneral Settings,” on page 61 for details.

Active Directory View and edit Active Directory details. See Chapter 2,“Register Active Directory,” on page 13 for details.

Roles & Permissions Edit Roles and Permissions. See “Add or Change Roles andPermissions for Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode,” on page 19.

Locations Displays details for AV Manger, vCenter, and File Share.You can create, edit and delete from this page. See “Locations Page,” on page 63.

Infrastructure View appliance details such as location, type, Desktopmodels, remaining capacity, and IP addresses. You can alsoedit the name and description of the appliance. See “Infrastructure Page,” on page 63 .

Getting Started Opens the Getting Started page. See Chapter 3, “GettingStarted Page,” on page 15 for details.

2 Factor Auth Configure 2 Factor authentication for end users. See “2Factor Authentication with RADIUS,” on page 64.

Utility VMs View a list of Horizon Air Nodes in your environment andtake action on them (for example, shutdown or reboot). See “Utility VMs,” on page 65 for details.

Edit General SettingsYou can edit general settings and upload certificates from the General Settings page.

Procedure

1 Select Settings > General Settings.

2 Click Edit.

3 Make changes for these settings.

Option Description

Default Domain Default domain that you are editing.

Session Timeout Assign or change the timeout setting for each portal.

Image Defaults Configuration If you require a desktop Image to be registered against an OU in ActiveDirectory other than CN=Computers, enter the value in the Image OU textbox.

User Portal Configuration Enter the help desk email address, the trouble ticket system URL, and theexternal style sheet URL to allow for end-user portal configuration.

Chapter 10 About Menu Selections

VMware, Inc. 61

Page 62: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

Option Description

Agent Pairing Sets a policy on the tenant which determines the access of legacy(pre-16.6.0) and 16.6.0 agents.

Option Description

15.3CompatibilityMode

Compatibility Mode Allows legacy and 16.6.0 agentsto be paired with Desktop Manager. This 15.3Compatibility Mode option also applies to 16.3agents.This is the default setting for upgraded setups.

16.6 UpgradeMode

Restricts legacy agents from a fresh pairing, but thismode does not restrict desktops that are alreadypaired using 16.3.0 agents unless the desktop or agentservice is restarted.

16.6 Mode Allows only bootstrapped 16.6.0 agents to be paired.This mode does not restrict desktops that are alreadypaired using 15.3.x agents or un-bootstrapped 16.6.0agents unless the desktop or DaaS agent service isrestarted.This is the default setting for fresh installs.

Contact Info Administrator contact information

4 Click Save.

Session Timeout SettingsAdjust the session timeout settings in Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode to allocate enough time to avoid data loss.

Timeout Description

Client Heartbeat Interval Controls the interval between Horizon Client heartbeatsand connected state. These heartbeats report to the brokerthe amount of idle time that has passed. Idle time occurswhen no interaction occurs with the end point device, asopposed to idle time in the desktop session. In largedesktop deployments, setting the activity heartbeats atlonger intervals might reduce network traffic and increaseperformance.

Client Idle User Maximum time that a user can be idle while connected tothe tenant. When this maximum is reached, the user isdisconnected from all active Horizon Client Desktopsessions. The user must reauthenticate to reaccess theHorizon Client.Note Set the Client Idle User timeout to be at least doublethe Client Heartbeat Interval to avoid unexpecteddisconnects from desktops.

Client Broker Session Maximum time that a Horizon Client instance can beconnected to the tenant before its authentication expires.The timeout count starts each time you authenticate. Whenthis timeout occurs, you can continue to work. If youperform an action that causes communication to the broker,such as changing settings, the system requires you toreauthenticate and log back in to the desktop.Note The Client Broker Session timeout must be at leastequal to the sum of the Client Heartbeat Interval and theClient Idle User timeout.

User Portal Timeout How long you can be on the User Portal when you try tobroker a connection before you need to log in again.

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

62 VMware, Inc.

Page 63: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

Locations PageThe Locations page provides details for App Volumes Manager, vCenter, and file shares.

Procedure

u Navigate to Setttings > Locations to view these details.

Option Description

AV Manager Displays details for the App Volumes Manager.

vCenter Shows details for the Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode vCenter.

File Share Displays file shares that exist in your environment. From here you can takethe following actions.n “Create a File Share,” on page 18n “Edit a File Share,” on page 63n “Import AppStacks,” on page 47

Edit a File ShareYou can edit a file share name, source path, and destination vCenter instances.

Procedure

1 Select Settings > Locations and click File Share.

2 Select the check box next to the file share to edit.

3 Click Edit and make your changes.

4 Click Save.

Infrastructure PageYou can view and edit details regarding your Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode appliances from the Infrastructurepage.

The Infrastructure page is available from the Settings icon. It lists all of the appliances in your system, andprovides details such as status, location, type, and tenant appliance IP addresses for each.

You can take these actions from the Infrastructure page.

n Edit the Name, Location, and Description of the appliance.

n Click the appliance name to view additional details.

n In the Summary section, you can see appliance status, location, total number of allocated desktops,and available desktop capacity. Place the cursor over these values to see further details for each.You can also see the available disk space capacity and number of active sessions.

n The Summary also shows the current software version running in the appliance, and whether anupgrade is available.

n The Allocated Desktop Model section displays details for each of the Enterprise, Standard, andAdvanced desktop models used in your sessions.

2 Factor AuthenticationHorizon Air Hybrid-Mode supports RSA SecurID and Radius authentication for internal users.

To enable 2 Factor Authentication for users on your internal network, see “2 Factor Authentication withRADIUS,” on page 64 and “2 Factor Authentication with RSA SecurID,” on page 65.

Chapter 10 About Menu Selections

VMware, Inc. 63

Page 64: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

To enable 2 Factor Authentication for users connecting to desktops from outside of the corporate network,configure authentication as part of the Access Point Configuration. See “2 Factor Authentication UsingAccess Point,” on page 65.

2 Factor Authentication with RADIUSYou can use RADIUS to enable 2 Factor Authentication for end users.

Note Make sure that primary and secondary tenant appliance IP addresses are registered as clients on theRADIUS server. Go to Settings > Infrastructure to obtain the IP addresses.

Procedure

1 Select Settings > 2Factor Auth.

2 Configure the authentication.

Option Description

2nd factor Auth Method Select Radius.

Maintain Username Select Yes to maintain the username during authentication. The user whois attempting to authenticate must have the same username credentials forRSA and Domain Challenge. If you select No, the username field is notlocked and the user can enter a different name.

Provider Name (Required) Name that distinguishes the type of RADIUS authenticationbeing used.

Host Name / IP Address (Required) DNS name or IP address of the authentication server.

Shared Secret (Required) Secret for communicating with the server. The value must beidentical to the server configured value.

Authentication Port UDP port configured to send or receive authentication traffic. Default is1812.

Accounting Port UDP port configured to send or receive accounting traffic. Default is 1813.

Mechanism Select the RADIUS authentication protocol: PAP, CHAP, MS-CHAPv1, orMS-CHAPv2.

Server Timeout Number of seconds to wait for a response from the RADIUS server.Default is five seconds.

Max number of retries Maximum number of times to retry failed requests. Default is three tries.

Realm Prefix Name and delimiter of realm to be prepended to the username duringauthentication.

Realm Suffix Name and delimiter of realm to be appended to the username duringauthentication.

Auxiliary Server Default is NO. If set to YES, specify a secondary RADIUS server to be usedwhen the primary server is not responding.

3 Click Save

4 Enter your username and passcode in the Test Authentication dialog box, then click Test.

If authentication is successful, users attempting to authenticate with the tenant portals will see a dialogbox asking them to log in with their RADIUS credentials, followed by their domain credentials.

5 If the Test Authentication credentials fail, the settings are not saved. Correct the username or passcodeand try again.

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

64 VMware, Inc.

Page 65: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

2 Factor Authentication with RSA SecurIDYou can use RSA SecurID to enable 2 Factor Authentication for end users.

Procedure

1 Select Settings > 2Factor Auth.

2 Configure the authentication.

Option Description

2nd factor Auth Method Select RSA SecurID

Maintain Username Select Yes to maintain the Username during authentication. The userattempting to authenticate must have the same username credentials forRSA and Domain Challenge. If you select No, the username is not lockedand the user can enter a different name.

Upload Configuration File Click Select and navigate to the file named sdconf.rec. Click Open.

3 Click Save.

2 Factor Authentication Using Access PointUse Access Point to enable 2 Factor Authentication for external users.

You must enable 2 Factor Authentication as part of the Access Point Configuration for users connecting todesktops from outside of the corporate network.

See Deploying and Configuring Access Point .

Utility VMsThe Utility VMs page lists all of the master virtual machines in your environment.

This page provides details about all of the master virtual machines, including status, operating system, andIP address.

Action Description

Rename Select a virtual machine and click Rename. Enter a newname in the field and click Save.

Shutdown If status is green, select one or more virtual machines andclick Shutdown. You can only shut down virtual machinesthat do not have active user sessions.

Reboot If status is green, select one or more virtual machines andclick Reboot.

... Provides a list of actions that you can take on one or morevirtual machines. These actions are: Suspend, Resume,Power On, Power Off, Reset, Log Off, Disconnect,Convert to Image, and Delete.

Chapter 10 About Menu Selections

VMware, Inc. 65

Page 66: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

66 VMware, Inc.

Page 67: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

Managing Horizon Air Nodes 11After you install and configure one or more Horizon Air Nodes, you can perform tasks to manage them.

For example, you can monitor the health of your Horizon Air Nodes, and put a Horizon Air Nodes intomaintenance mode.

For information about logging in to a Horizon Air Node, including details about selecting a node to log in towhen your environment includes multiple Horizon Air Nodes, see “Log in to an Administration Console,”on page 11.

This chapter includes the following topics:

n “Monitor Horizon Air Node Health,” on page 67

n “Performing Maintenance on Horizon Air Node,” on page 68

n “Upgrading Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode,” on page 68

Monitor Horizon Air Node HealthYou can check the health of the Horizon Air Node using the Dashboard screen.

The Horizon Air Node is made up of a number of appliances. These appliances are arranged as highavailability pairs. The Administration Console dashboard displays the health of these appliance pairs.

n Smartnode Manager

n Resource Manager

n Tenant Appliance

The health of the virtual appliance pairs is summarized using icons.

n Healthy (check mark)

n Warning (exclamation point)

n Faulty (red cross)

If an issue is reported with either the warning or faulty icon, click the appliance name. Certain issues canoften be remedied on premise. For example, Active Directory issues, or NTP time sync problems. The screendisplays more information and guidance. Some issues might need additional help from VMware Support.See “Contacting VMware Support,” on page 8 for VMware Support contact information.

Procedure

1 In the Administration Console, select Monitor > Dashboard

VMware, Inc. 67

Page 68: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

2 Click the name of an appliance.

A dialog box appears. The dialog box includes a more link. Depending on the health of the appliance,the dialog box might list health issues specific to the appliance.

3 Click more.

4 The screen displays more information and guidance. If you want to create a list of the issues, clickDownload to download a spreadsheet listing the issues for that appliance.

Performing Maintenance on Horizon Air NodeInstant Clone functionality automatically creates parent virtual machines on all hosts in the selected cluster.The parent virtual machines are tied to the host they are on and cannot be migrated or powered off throughthe vSphere Client. A host cannot enter maintenance mode if any parent virtual machines reside on the host.

The following steps outline how a host can be put in and out of maintenance mode using the vSphere Clientwhen using Instant Clone functionality.

Prerequisites

If you are using the vSphere Web Client, verify that the plug-in to edit Annotations is installed.

Procedure

1 Select the host to put in maintenance mode.

2 On the host's Summary tab, under Annotations, set InstantClone.Maintenance to 1.

vSphere automatically starts deleting the parent virtual machines on the host. When the parent virtualmachines on the host are deleted, the value for InstantClone.Maintenance changes to 2. During thistime, the clones remain available for use but new clones are no longer created on the host.

3 Put the host into maintenance mode.

When this action is complete, the virtual machine clones are automatically migrated from the host tothe other hosts using vSphere vMotion. End user access to these virtual machines remains unaffected.

4 Perform maintenance as required.

5 Take the host out of maintenance mode.

6 If the InstantClone.Maintenance annotation has a value of 1 or 2, clear the value.

As new provisioning occurs, parent virtual machines and instant clones are created on the host.

Upgrading Horizon Air Hybrid-ModeVMware upgrades Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode periodically to include new features and bug fixes.

An upgrade affects the following components.

n Horizon Cloud Services, running in the cloud

n On-premises Horizon Air Node software, running in a hyper-converged appliance, such as VxRail orVirtual SAN Ready Node.

n VMware master image agents

Horizon Cloud Services UpgradesVMware upgrades Horizon Cloud Services frequently, typically daily or weekly. The normal upgradeprocess takes place without incurring any system downtime.

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

68 VMware, Inc.

Page 69: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

On-Premises Horizon Air Node Software UpgradesThe Horizon Air Node software upgrade process is performed in the following stages.

1 Downloading new software, an automatic process

2 Scheduling the upgrade

3 Migrating to the new version

The first stage takes place when a new version of software is available. Horizon Cloud Servicesautomatically triggers the Horizon Air Link appliance to download the new version of the software. TheHorizon Air Link appliance builds out an inactive parallel environment. This stage is transparent to you anddoes not cause any downtime.

The first stage completes automatically and the Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration Console signifiesthat an upgrade is available.

To check upgrade availability for a Horizon Air Node, select Settings > Infrastructure and click a node. If anupgrade is available, a parenthetical message appears after the software version describing the update.

The second stage occurs between you and the VMware Operations team. Arrange a convenient time for theupgrade to take place. Typically, the upgrade itself, or the migration from the existing version to the newversion, takes about five minutes, but as a best practice schedule the upgrade at a time when theenvironment is least busy. Once scheduled, the Administration Console displays in a top banner thescheduled time. If you need to reschedule the upgrade, contact VMware Operations.

The third stage, migration to the new version, takes place at the scheduled time, at which point, VMwareOperations trigger the migration. The process takes around five minutes to complete, and migrates the dataand configuration from the running environment to the new environment. During the migration, thefollowing rules apply.

n You cannot perform administrative tasks nor can you log in to the Administration Console.

n Any end users attempting to connect to desktops are unable to do so.

n End users with connected desktop sessions can continue to use their systems without any downtime.

Once the upgrade is complete, you can log back in to the Administration Console. To see the softwareversion currently running, select Settings > Infrastructure and click a node. The screen displays the currentsoftware version running. Click the software version number to see associated release information.

You can now upgrade the guest operating system agents.

Upgrade the VMware AgentsWhen the upgrade of the Horizon Air Node is complete, you can upgrade the respective VMware agents onpremise to complete the upgrade process.

Prerequisites

n Verify that the Horizon Air Node software is upgraded. See “Upgrading Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode,”on page 68.

n Download the new agents, such as DaaS Agent, Horizon Agent, and the App Volumes Unified AgentInstaller from the My VMware site.

Procedure

1 In the Administration Console, select Inventory > Images, click the checkbox next to the image youwant to update, and click Duplicate.

2 Provide a name for the new desktop and click Save.

Chapter 11 Managing Horizon Air Nodes

VMware, Inc. 69

Page 70: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

3 On the Images page, refresh the page until the status of the image you duplicated changes to Published,which might take a few minutes, click New, and enter the name you provided for the duplicate imagein the Desktop text box.

A dialog box appears prompting you to power on the desktop.

4 Click Power On.

The New Image dialog box appears.

5 Click the IP address.

A dialog box appears for creating a remote desktop connection.

6 Click the button to accept the connection.

7 Update the master image as required, including installing the updated agents.

8 Update any additional information required on the form and click Publish.

The image publishes.

9 On the Images page, refresh the page until the status of the image you duplicated changes to Published,which might take a few minutes, select the checkbox next to the image, click ..., and select PushUpdates.

The Push Updates dialog box appears.

10 Click the checkbox next to the assignments you want to update and click OK.

The updated master virtual machine containing the updated agents replaces the virtual machines in theassignments you selected.

The next time users log in, they receive an updated image.

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

70 VMware, Inc.

Page 71: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

Access Desktops and Applications 12After you create desktop and application assignments, you can use a Horizon Client to access thosedesktops and applications.

Before you proceed, familiarize yourself with the most up-to-date information regardingVMware Horizon Clients. For example, to check for up-to-date VMware Horizon Client supportinformation, see the VMware Product Interoperability Matrixes at https://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/sim/interop_matrix.php and to see the respectivedocumentation, see the VMware Horizon Clients documentation page at https://www.vmware.com/support/viewclients/doc/viewclients_pubs.html.

1 Download and install the applicable Horizon Client.

2 Start the client, select a desktop, and start running applications. See “Log In to the Desktop,” onpage 71.

Log In to the DesktopWhen you log in and launch a desktop, users can start running their applications and performing tasks suchas accessing USB and other devices connected to their local computers, sending documents to any printerthat their local computers can detect, and using multiple display monitors.

Procedure

1 Start the VMware Horizon Client.

2 If you did not configure a certificate for your environment, accept the untrusted connection.

3 Select the new server.

4 Enter the name that was added to the DNS for the environment, for example, desktops.mycorp.com.

5 Enter the credentials for your Active Directory user in the authentication dialog box.

6 If two-factor authentication is configured, enter RSA or RADIUS credentials.

7 Select the desktop to launch from the list that displays.

8 (Optional) For advanced configuration, right-click the desktop and make your selection.

VMware, Inc. 71

Page 72: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

72 VMware, Inc.

Page 73: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

Index

Numerics2 Factor authentication 632 Factor authentication using RADIUS 642 Factor authentication using Access Point 652 Factor authentication using RSA SecurID 65

AActive Directory 11, 13activity page 58Administration Console 11administrator events 58agent 69allow hosts to enter maintenance mode 68App Assignment prerequisites 37AppCapture

applications 37, 42command line 39command-line options 40folders and files 46Microsoft PowerShell 42system requirements 38

AppStack 38, 40, 41, 46AppStacks, import 47architectural overview 6Assign menu 59

Bbefore you begin 7bootstrap 21building master virtual machine 21

CCEIP (Customer Experience Improvement

Program) 7convert image to desktop 33copy application stacks to file share 46create a virtual machine for building a Master

VM 22create applications assignment 47create desktops assignments 35create nested OUs 36create new file share 18create new image 32creating desktop image 21customization file shares 52

customizations, assign 53Customizations, create 53

DDaaS Agent 25, 26DaaS SSL Certificate 21dashboard 58dedicated desktop assignment 34delete assignment 60delete image 33desktop assignment page 31desktop assignments 34desktop image 21desktop mapping details 59download certificate 33

Eedit applications assignment 60edit desktop assignment 60edit file share 63edit general settings 61end user access 71

Ffile share

AppCapture 46AppStack 46

floating desktop assignment 34folders and files, App Capture 46

Ggeneral setup page 17getting help 8getting started wizard 15glossary 5

HHorizon Agent 25Horizon Cloud Services 68Horizon Air Node

appliance 67health 67monitor 67

Horizon Air Hybrid-mode Node configuration 9

VMware, Inc. 73

Page 74: VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

Iimport AppStacks 47Infrastructure menu 63install and configure agents 25installing, AppCapture 38intended audience 5Inventory icon 60

Kkeytool utility 21

LLocations 63Logging into the desktop 71

Mmaster virtual machine, export 29master virtual machine setup 22menu selections 57merging AppStacks 41Microsoft PowerShell 42, 43monitor icon 57

Nnew assignment 59NTP time sync 67

Ooptimize guest OS performance 23optimize windows for instant clone VMs 24overview 5

Ppackage applications 39prerequisites for master VM 22push changes to assignments 33Push Updates 33

Rrecover assignment 60reports page 59roles and permissions 19

Ssession timeout settings 62set up applications 37Settings menu 61

Ttake image offline 33tenant appliance IP addresses 22two-factor authenitcation 71

UUEM file and profile shares 51, 52update image 33updating AppStack 41upgrade 68, 69upload certificates 18User Account Control 42user events 58user mapping details 59utility VMs page 65

VvCenter 25VHD 41, 46VMDK 41, 46

Wworkflow 7writable volumes FAQ 49writable volumes limitations 48

VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode Administration

74 VMware, Inc.